John Higgins hit out at the structure of the snooker calendar after suffering a shock defeat in the UK Championship today.
The world number five described the scheduling as "scandalous" with the season's second most prestigious ranking event having started a mere 15 hours after the Scot had landed the British Open title last Sunday night.
Higgins and the runner-up in Brighton, Stephen Maguire, had only two full days before they were back in action at York's Barbican Centre and the quick turnaround had clearly taken its toll on the former world champion.
The 29-year-old Scot lost 9-7 to north Wales-based Ricky Walden, having been beaten by the same opponent at the Grand Prix in Preston last month.
Higgins said: "It's scandalous when you consider the number of tournaments we have in a season (nine) and that two of them are played back to back, whereas there isn't another one now until mid-January."
Higgins, who had ended a three-year ranking title drought last weekend, did not play badly against Walden for he made breaks of 114, 97 and 74 and simply found the world number 78 in terrific form himself.
The 22-year-old from Flint knocked in contributions of 140 - the second highest of the event behind David Gray's 147 - 116, 86 and 70.
John Parrott demolished world number 16 Marco Fu with a 9-3 triumph.
While Higgins headed north, two other Scottish seeds scraped through deciding frames.
Graeme Dott, this year's World Championship runner-up, overcame Australian youngster Neil Robertson, while Alan McManus trailed rising Welsh star Ryan Day in their match but held his nerve to turn it around.
Maximum man David Gray, fresh from his 147 break yesterday, appeared buoyed by the achievement as he turned a 5-3 overnight lead against Mark Selby into a 9-3 victory.
