Blockbuster Tuesday afternoon session in Saudi complete as top 16 seeds experience mixed fortunes

The sport’s biggest stars feature across two bumper sessions and are spread across eight tables at the Green Halls venue in Jeddah. And there were plenty of talking points from the afternoon’s programme in the Middle East.

The biggest news story of the session was reigning champion Judd Trump’s shock elimination at the hands of good friend and world number 68 Oli Lines on the TV table.

Next up for Lines, on Wednesday in the last 16, is number 16 seed Ali Carter who squeezed past Gary Wilson 5-4.

There was never more than a frame between the two players, so it was fitting that the contest went all the way. However, there was no drama in the decider, as ‘The Captain’ compiled a break of 132 to advance.

Carter comes to Saudi in fantastic form having recently reached the final of the Shanghai Masters where he narrowly missed out on the title by just two frames.

Elsewhere in the top quarter of the draw, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby set up a tasty round six date with one another.

Australia's Robertson - who has recently been in Hong Kong opening a new academy there - was in very fine scoring nick as he notched up breaks of 63, 120, 114, 106 and 60 during a 5-2 win over Ben Woollaston.

Four-time World Champion Selby lost his first match at last year's inaugural Saudi Masters to Robertson, but he avoided back-to-back early exits with a 5-3 success over Long Zehuang.

Although Robertson and Selby both enjoyed rejuvenating seasons last term with each winning multiple ranking event titles, neither has recently had a deep run at one of snooker's 'four majors'. They'll be trying to put that right this week.

In quarter two of the draw, two non-top 16 seeds will meet in the last 16 after getting the better of higher ranked opponents.

For the second year in-a-row, both Stuart Bingham and Elliot Slessor have made it through to round six in Saudi. Former World Champion Bingham defeated Zhang Anda 5-2, while Slessor scored an impressive 5-4 win over world number four John Higgins, getting the job done on the colours in the deciding frame.

There was a better outcome for another member of snooker’s fabled ‘Class of 92’ as last year’s runner-up Mark Williams resisted breaks of 127 and 101 from his opponent Yuan Sijun to record a 5-3 win.

In what will be one of the glamour ties on Wednesday, Williams will share the baize with fellow career Triple Crown winner Shaun Murphy, who was the first player to progress to the next stage.

Current Masters champion Murphy - a semi-finalist in this tournament last year - got his latest title tilt off to a superb start as breaks of 125, 66 and 118 helped him establish a commanding 4-0 mid-session lead over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Having whitewashed Un-Nooh 3-0, 5-0 and 5-0 in their three most recent meetings, Murphy was now on a staggering 17-frame winning streak against his opponent.

However, Thai ace Un-Nooh put an end to that unwanted sequence - and nearly in very memorable fashion.

Having compiled a maximum 147 break in round three just a couple of days ago, Un-Nooh was aiming for another feat of perfection as he strung together 12 reds and 12 blacks in frame five. But his hopes of a £147,000 jackpot - for now - were ended as he broke down on 96.

That effort wasn’t the start of a comeback, though, as Murphy secured frame six for a 5-1 success.

The remaining top 16 seeds will take to the stage in the evening session in Saudi; these include Ronnie O’Sullivan, Zhao Xintong and Kyren Wilson.

Please visit our 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters tournament information centre here for the draw, results and other details on the event.