Ben Woollaston. Picture by Monique Limbos

BEN WOOLASTON produced the mother of all comebacks to beat Ding Junhui on the opening day of the PTC Grand Finals.

The Leicester potter looked set for defeat when Ding, winner of four major ranking events this season, led 3-0 in the race to four frames encounter.

Breaks of 65 and 68 set Ding on his way but errors later in the match were to cost him his place in the tournament – being played at Preston’s Guild Hall.

A run of 68 started the fightback from Woollaston before he won the final frame decider by more than 70 points.

Elsewhere on the opening day, Haikou World Open winner Shaun Murphy kept up his impressive form beating world number one Neil Robertson 4-2.

And another shock was in store this evening when Northern Irishman Gerard Greene reached the second round after an impressive 4-1 win over Ricky Walden.

The win was a fairly significant one for Greene as he returned into the required top 64 of the end-of-season money list which guarantees players a place on the main tour this season.

Incidentally six times world champion Steve Davis dropped out of the top 64 following Greene’s win meaning he must have a good run in the World Championship Qualifiers next month to keep his place on the main tour next season.

John Higgins came back from 2-1 behind to defeat Jimmy Robertson and Anthony Hamilton battled his way to a 4-3 win over Sam Baird in a match which lasted more than three hours.

Welshman Mark Williams saw off talented teenager Lyu Haotian 4-1 to reach the last 16 stage.

Judd Trump had no problem winning his first round encounter – beating Ju Reti 4-1 and Marco Fu enjoyed a clinical display beating Gary Wilson 4-0.

Wednesday’s Games:

Liang WENBO vs Yu DELU
Stuart BINGHAM vs Ryan DAY
Mark ALLEN vs Jamie JONES
Ronnie O’SULLIVAN vs Scott DONALDSON
Stephen MAGUIRE vs Barry HAWKINS
Joe PERRY vs Mark DAVIS
Fergal O’BRIEN vs Michael HOLT
Mark SELBY vs David GILBERT