Clinical Ali Carter sweeps home favourite Selby aside at the British Open
Mark Selby’s quest to reclaim the world number one ranking ended after suffering a 3-0 defeat by Ali Carter in the British Open second round on Thursday.
It is now two years since the Jester stood atop the world rankings, with Judd Trump occupying the summit since.
Nevertheless, the World champion had a chance to return there by either bettering Trump’s performance at the Morningside Arena this week – or should the Ace fail to progress beyond the last 16.
But the home favourite was not allowed the opportunity to settle into his stride by Carter, who dominated the opening frame of their contest to draw first blood.
And the four-time ranking event winner built on that momentum with a marvellous 107 clearance moving him closer to victory, which he sealed with a run of 57.
There were mixed fortunes for Leicester with Louis Heathcote also going out to Lukas Kleckers, but Joe O’Connor produced a top break of 71 to inflict a 3-1 defeat on 1997 World champion Ken Doherty.
Trump remained on course to retain his grip on the number one spot by coming from behind to beat Stuart Bingham 3-1.
Former Crucible king Bingham opened with 65, but was unable to convert subsequent early chances in the following frames.
The Ace ruthlessly punished that lacking of a clinical edge with breaks of 69, 75 and 65 to set up a third-round date with fellow left-hander Elliot Slessor.
Earlier in the day, John Higgins twice came from behind to see off Cao Yupeng in a deciding frame.
The four-time champion trailed 2-1, but produced timely breaks of 95 and 96 to prevail.
Meanwhile, David Gilbert and Ricky Walden enjoyed 3-1 victories over John Astley and Robbie Williams respectively.
However, there was no joy for Stephen Hendry or Jimmy White.
Seven-time World champion Hendry was defeated 3-0 by Gary Wilson; the same scoreline by which the Whirlwind succumbed against Allan Taylor.
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British Open Snooker 2021 Results
Thursday August 19
Round Two
Xu Si 3-0 Barry Pinches
Ian Burns 0-3 Duane Jones
Noppon Saengkham 2-3 Jimmy Robertson
Liang Wenbo 1-3 Hammad Miah
Ricky Walden 3-1 Robbie Williams
Rory McLeod 0-3 Ross Muir
Mark Davis 1-3 Jak Jones
Luca Brecel 3-1 Zhao Jianbo
John Higgins 3-2 Cao Yupeng
David Gilbert 3-1 John Astley
Matthew Selt 3-0 Michael Georgiou
Elliot Slessor 3-1 Wu Yize
Gary Wilson 3-0 Stephen Hendry
Lee Walker 3-2 Mark King
Allan Taylor 3-0 Jimmy White
Oliver Lines 3-0 David Grace
Mark Selby 0-3 Ali Carter
Martin Gould 1-3 Lu Ning
Lukas Kleckers 3-2 Louis Heathcote
Li Hang 0-3 Zhang Jiankang
Judd Trump 3-1 Stuart Bingham
Pang Junxu 3-1 Bai Langning
Dylan Emery L-L Andrew Pagett
Joe O’Connor 3-1 Ken Doherty