World Open 2024: Mark Allen stunned by Daniel Wells, Zak Surety hits first-ever 147 in Ding Junhui defeat

World No. 3 Mark Allen crashed out of the World Open in China after a scrappy 5-3 defeat to Daniel Wells.

Allen got off to a sluggish start in a slow-paced encounter as Wells ground out the opening two frames.

The fourth seed steadily worked his way back into the match, though, with a break of 72 – by far the biggest of the match thus far – getting him on the board.

An attritional contest eventually reached its interval when Allen levelled things at 2-2 after two hours and 20 minutes at the table.

It was Wells’ turn to start finding decent runs after the break, the Welshman finding a 63 to edge back in front before a match-high 78 clearance took him into a 4-2 lead and one frame from a shock win.

Allen had to respond with his best stuff, and that he did as he produced a century 103 to claw a frame back and stay in the hunt.

But it was not enough as another 63 break from Wells saw him knock out the Players Championship winner.

Elsewhere in the main draw, Kyren Wilson progressed with a 5-4 win over David Grace that he topped off with a 122 break, while Barry Hawkins beat Jenson Kendrick 5-2.

There were also wins for Ashley Hugill over Jak Jones (5-0), Ricky Walden against Jamie Jones (5-4) and Yuan Sijun over Ishpreet Singh Chadha (5-3).

Monday’s action also saw plenty of qualifying matches, with home favourite Ding Junhui outlasting Zak Surety to reach the last 64, but there was a moment to remember for the Englishman after he produced a career-first 147 break.

Ding claimed a 5-3 victory to set up a tie against Liu Hongyu, but world No. 73 Surety ensured it will be a day he never forgets by clearing the table in frame seven to the delight of the Yushan crowd.

It was the 32-year-old’s best career break but wasn’t enough to wrestle the momentum of the match back in his favour.

Surety started superbly by taking the opening two frames, a break of 76 doubling his lead at 2-0.

But Ding found his form thereafter, breaks of 54, 122 and 94 sending him on the way to a run of four frames in a row that put him on the brink of a place in round two.

However, the crowd soon erupted into applause at the end of frame seven after Surety produced a stunning 147 clearance.

The Englishman puffed out his cheeks almost in disbelief after a stunning effort that found him a way back into the match at 4-3.

But he couldn’t build on it as Ding maintained his composure with a 77 break that completed the victory.