China Open: Stars heading home early

John Higgins and defending champion Peter Ebdon both crashed out of the Bank of Beijing China Open in the first round.

Four-time world champion Higgins led Robert Milkins 3-1 and 4-3 but the Scot was eventually beaten 5-4 in a scrappy contest.

World No 19 Milkins will now face the winner of Stuart Bingham's clash with Liang Wenbo, but the Gloucester potter admitted afterwards that he felt Higgins had probably deserved to win the match.

Milkins told worldsnooker.com: "I've been so low on confidence for the last few weeks.

"I'm struggling to see the angles on every shot. I nicked a few frames against John and luckily for me he didn't play well, although he played better than I did and probably deserved to win.

"The only frame I felt good in was the last one. I won a big frame to go 3-2, I made a good clearance because it was last-chance saloon. If it had been 4-1 I couldn't have won."

Milkins threw his cue on to the floor during the eighth frame. "It was just pure frustration," he said. "I've been playing so badly it's unbelievable, I don't feel like a professional at the moment. Sometimes we let our emotions out.

"Maybe I shouldn't have done it so I apologise to John but it hurts me when I play like that."

Ebdon's defence of his crown came to an early end with a 5-3 loss to Marcus Campbell, whose opponent in the last-16 will be fellow Scotsman Graeme Dott.

Dechawat Poomjaeng of Thailand overcame Chinese wild card Zhu Yinghui 5-2 and will next take on Mark Davis in round one.