Mark Selby’s hopes of defending his UK Championship crown were crashed to the ground on Saturday when he suffered a shock second round defeat.

Mark Selby. Picture by Monique Limbos

World number 66 Scott Donaldson could not have chosen a much sweeter time to produce just his second win of the season as he beat the reigning world champion with an impressive 6-3 victory.

Breaks of 90, 77 and 84 gave the 23-year-old Scotsman one of his biggest wins of his career – a result which certainly opens up the top of the draw.

Donaldson made his first real impression on the snooker scene last season when he reached the semi-finals of the Welsh Open before losing to Judd Trump.

WATCH: Scott Donaldson in action in the Welsh Open 2017 Semi-Finals

The result will certainly come as a blow to Selby who had intentionally missed last week’s Northern Ireland Open to prepare himself for a good run in York this week.

Elsewhere, Australian Neil Robertson kept up his hopes of securing a place in The Masters in January with a 6-2 win over Ken Doherty. Robertson recovered from 2-1 down and made three century breaks to earn a place in the third round.

Also impressing on first TV day of the UK Championship was China’s 19-year-old Lyu Haotian who last week reached the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open final.

Haotian continued his fine form today beating former world champion Peter Ebdon 6-3 to advance to the last 32 stage.

And Mark Williams, winner of the Northern Ireland Open, beat Andrew Higginson 6-2 making five breaks of 50+. The 19-times ranking event winner will next face fellow Welshman Ryan Day who beat Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3.