Rotherham’s Ash Carty unable to build on Ali Carter success as he exits UK Open

Out: Rotherham's Ash Carty was knocked out of the UK Open by Ricky Walden.

Rotherham’s Carty, ranked over 50 places below the two-time semi-finalist, struggled for any real fluency as a solid performance from Walden floored him at the Marshall Arena.

Carty stunned world No 18 Ali Carter in his first-round match but was unable to emulate his heroics against Walden, who reached the last four of the Triple Crown tournament in 2011 and 2013.

Walden took a scrappy first frame with 74 points before Carty, 25, levelled with 61 of his own.

The topsy-turvy session continued before the interval as the Chester player pinched the third, before a steady break of 59 from Carty restored parity at the break.

But it was one way traffic after that as Walden, a three-time ranking event winner, won three frames in a row before a final frame visit of 69 hauled him into the last 32.

The result dashed Carty’s hopes of reaching the third round of a ranking event for the first time since the European Masters, but his run at the tournament did mark the first time he’s won a match at the UK Championship.

Leeds’s giant-killer David Grace is back at the table on Monday as he takes on world No 35 Xiao Guodong in his third-round match.

Grace reached a second ranking event semi-final of his career at last week’s Northern Ireland Open before stunning world No 10 and defending UK champion Ding Junhui in the second round on Saturday.

And the world No 65, 35, will be hoping to continue his brilliant run of performances on Monday as he bids to replicate his run to the UK Championship semi-finals in York five years ago.

Seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan was dumped out of the UK Championship by Switzerland’s Alexander Ursenbacher.

The world No 66 produced a thrilling display of attacking snooker then held his nerve to repel an O’Sullivan comeback and edge a 6-5 second round win. Mark Selby eased past Liam Highfield, 6-1.

Watch the UK Championship LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport app. Follow all the latest tournament news on Eurosport.co.uk

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe.