Marco Fu caused the biggest shock so far at this year's Malta Cup as he showed his class to send last year's runner-up John Higgins crashing out at the very first hurdle.
And it came as little surprise that the Asian ace was delighted with his 5-3 win and prize scalp of Higgins, by far the best player on the circuit last season.
'It's always good to beat John because he's such a great player,' said Fu. 'Hopefully this win will get my season going.
'It was a bit scrappy early on and it could have been 4-0 to either of us, but he was poor and missed a lot of balls.
'It's not like John because he didn't put me under pressure, but with this win I'm feeling a lot more confident now.
'I've found the balance in the three major areas of the game and I've improved a lot since last season. Hopefully I can kick on from here.'
And if defeat was not bad enough for Higgins at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso, he was also warned during the match for conceding a frame out of turn after missing an adventurous pot when attempting to double the brown ball in the third frame.
No wonder the 'Wizard of Wishaw' was annoyed with his performance, for last season he nearly went the distance in a thrilling final with Dubliner Ken Doherty.
Higgins went down 9-8 that day, but his defeat tonight was much more convincing as he failed to find any of the form which won him his two ranking event finals last season and also saw him runner-up in two other finals.
'I'm just struggling badly, but I'm not doing anything technically different,' he said. 'I'm not feeling very good - and I don't know why.
'I'll need to try and work on because I'm not happy with the way I'm playing. Something's crept into my game and I'm going to have to work hard to get it out.'
Higgins led 1-0 after a scrappy opener before Fu went 2-1 ahead thanks to a 44 break and his opponent's breach of the rules in the third frame.
Further breaks of 51, 62 and 61 saw Fu edge 4-1 ahead, before Higgins rallied with runs of 80 and 62.
But it only delayed the inevitable as Fu compiled breaks of 36 and 29 to book a meeting with Tiptree's Ali Carter in the last 16.
Carter came back from 1-0 down to beat Liverpool's Rod Lawler in their last 32 match.
Lawler started well with a 72 break and had a further 71 run to be tied at 2-2 at the interval.
But Carter knocked in breaks of 82 and 109 to triumph and win the next three frames.
In other evening matches, Nottingham's Michael Holt downed golden oldie John Parrott courtesy of breaks of 80, 59, 71, 69 and 43 to earn a last-16 meeting with Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy also battled back from 4-2 behind to beat Flintshire's Ricky Walden.
Breaks of 50, 93 and 53 were enough to seal a dramatic win, with the pair forced to conclude their match at the end of the evening.
Walden, who had pocketed breaks of 115, 50 and 78, was leading 4-3 when the match was suspended because it had overrun into the evening session.
And after over an hour's break, it was Murphy who returned to the stronger to book his place in the next round, where he will now play Stephen Lee in a repeat of last season's Welsh Open final, which he lost 9-4.
