Day three of the Welsh Open has seen more big shocks with several top stars suffering early exits.

Ding Junhui. Picture by Monique Limbos

Tuesday night saw Shaun Murphy crash out of the tournament without winning a frame – and today the likes of Ding Junhui, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson were shown the door in Cardiff.

Ding’s defeat was the most surprising as he lost 4-1 to Liam Highfield. This came days after Ding reached the World Grand Prix final playing his best snooker for some time,.

Trump’s miserable run of form continued as he suffered a 4-1 defeat to Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham and despite playing well former world champion Robertson came out the wrong side of a seven frame thriller to Ian Burns.

And it was not just them three big names to crash out., Belgian’s Luca Brecel, who won this season’s China Championship, crashed to a 4-1 loss to Mike Dunn.

Meanwhile Ronnie O’Sullivan, who received a bye into the second round following Robin Hull’s withdrawal, beat Graeme Dott 4-0.