World champion Mark Williams suffered a shock second round defeat in the Riga Masters earlier today.

Mark Williams. Picture by Monique Limbos

The Welshman, now a three-time world champion after his Crucible glory a few months ago, crashed out of the season’s first major ranking event after losing 4-3 to China’s Zhang Yong.

In an entertaining match, Zhang made breaks of 75, 120 and 60 to reach the last 16 of the Latvian ranking event.

It is Williams’s first ranking event defeat since losing 6-2 to Mark Selby in the China Open quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Neil Robertson came back from behind to beat Liang Wendo to reach the last 16. The match almost saw Wenbo complete a 147 but bad luck saw him pot two reds in a single shot making it impossible for him to achieve the maximum.

Shaun Murphy crashed out after an impressive 4-0 win by Q School graduate Zhao Xintong and Masters winner Mark Allen beat Ali Carter 4-2,

Kyren Wilson also secured his place in the last 16 stage with a 4-2 win over Simon Bedford.