Kurt Maflin. Picture by Monique Limbos
A DRAMATIC second day of the German Masters continued as Mark Selby suffered a shock early exit losing to Kurt Maflin.
The world number two star, who lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the recent Masters final, was sent packing his bags after losing the last 32 clash against the Norwegian 5-3.
Selby’s defeat, along with Neil Robertson’s surprise exit earlier today to Tian Pengfei, has thrown the Berlin ranking event wide open with just three players in the top ten of the world rankings left in the competition.
Maflin is one of snooker’s rising stars after impressing in a number of tournaments during the past two seasons most notably the PTC grand Finals last year where he made the semi-finals.
Breaks of 68 and 113 helped Selby win two of the first three frames but Maflin fought back impressively winning the next three frames on the bounce to lead 4-2.
Selby reduced the deficit but Maflin clinched possibly his biggest career victory when he cleared from green to black in the eighth frame.
Elsewhere tonight, Shaun Murphy fought back from 4-1 behind to beat Matthew Stevens and set up a last 16 match with Judd Trump who whitewashed Mark King 5-0.
Joe Perry also recorded a thumping win thrashing Anthony McGill 5-0 just 24 hours after he beat Mark Allen.
John Higgins’ struggle for form continued as he suffered a 5-3 defeat to Dominic Dale. Higgins fought back from 4-0 down to make it 4-3 but the deficit proved just a bit too much for the four times world champion.
Liang Wenbo became the fourth Chinese player to reach the last 16 stage after he completed a 5-3 win over Stephen Maguire – joining his countryman Ding Junhui, Xiaou Guodong and Robertson conquerer Pengfei.
There were also wins tonight for Rod Lawler, Michael Holt and Mark Davis.
German Masters 2014 – Last 16 DrawXiao GUODONG vs Jamie BURNETT
Anthony HAMILTON vs Ryan DAY
Ding JUNHUI vs Dominic DALE
Joe PERRY vs Kurt MAFLIN
Tian PENGFEI vs Rod LAWLER
Mark DAVIS vs Liang WENBO
Judd TRUMP vs Shaun MURPHY
Michael HOLT vs Alan McMANUS
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