The 17 wildcards registered to compete included 14-year-old Ziyad Al Qabbani but only one, Egypt’s Mohamed Elkhayat, progressed from the first round beating Thailand’s 2023 women’s world champion Baipat Siripaporn 4-3 in their best-of-seven encounter.
The 1997 world champion Ken Doherty went out in the first round, while six-time finalist Jimmy White progressed through his first two matches before losing 4-2 to China’s Si Jiahui.
Joe O’Connor, who knocked Mark Selby, the four-time world champion, out of the World Championship earlier this year, reeled off three frames in a row to beat Louis Heathcote 4-3 in the third round but Robert Milkins fell to a shock 4-3 defeat to Malaysia’s Rory Thor and Scotland’s Anthony McGill lost 4-1 to England’s Ashley Carty.
Neil Robertson, a 23-time ranking event winner, beat Paul Deaville 4-1, while Stephen Maguire brushed aside Ben Mertens 4-0 and Dave Gilbert defeated Alfie Burden by the same score as they all progressed to round four.