Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan suffered a shock 9-5 defeat by Joe Perry to crash out of the UK Championship in round two on Tuesday.
John Higgins, Stephen Maguire and Shaun Murphy all won, but the title holder collapsed dramatically.
O'Sullivan scorched into a 5-3 lead overnight with three centuries, but his game fell apart in the second session.
Perry played solidly, but a series of errors from the world number one gifted frame after frame to his opponent.
<!-- E SF -->
O'Sullivan conceded the 12th frame when just 23-0 down and was a picture of frustration as Perry sealed the win.
"I just got outplayed on the day," O'Sullivan told BBC Sport.
"It might have looked like I lost my head or whatever, but I'm sure I'll bounce back.
"He played great - I wasn't going to win today. His safety was great, he scored when he got in and didn't miss much.
"I didn't have any tip issues, I just got outplayed on the day. Sometimes you've just got to hold your hands up."
Even in the final frame, O'Sullivan had the chance to keep the match alive after Perry missed a simple red, but a missed black after a run of 41 allowed his opponent to wrap things up.
"It's been a good competition for me," said Perry.
"I do enjoy the longer matches. I was 5-3 down overnight and that didn't seem that bad as Ronnie gave me a bit of snooker lesson on Monday.
"I knew I was still in it at 5-3 and that's how it turned out to be."
Mark Williams edged Graeme Dott 9-7 in a nervous encounter between former world champions, while Higgins eased past Ding Junhui 9-4 despite the Chinese player making a 147 break.
Murphy saw off Mark Allen 9-7 and Ali Carter defeated fellow Englishman Peter Ebdon 9-5.
And in a dramatic closing match, Maguire beat Neil Robertson 9-8 with a magnificent break of 104 after the Australian had missed a black to win it in the previous frame. <!-- E BO -->