World number one John Higgins his withdrawn from the German Masters in Berlin following the death of his father.
John senior passed away this morning following a long battle with cancer, with his son pulling out of the competition as a result.
‘I am very sorry to have to withdraw from the event but I hope the German fans understand my decision as family comes first,’ Higgins said.
The Scot had this morning booked his place in the last 16 with a 5-3 win over Snooker Shootout runner-up Robert Milkins, including a break of 143.
‘On behalf of World Snooker I send deepest sympathies to the Higgins family at this sad time,’ said chairman Barry Hearn.
Higgins' opponent in the next round, Marco Fu, will receive a bye following his 5-1 win over Mark King.
Fu was rarely troubled by King as he rattled off four frames in a row after a tight opening, posting a highest break of 91.
He was in no mood to celebrate afterwards, though, saying: ‘After finding out the news about John's father, it puts things into perspective and all the players will be thinking of him and wish him well.’
In the day's other early games, Mark Williams beat Anthony McGill 5-1, while Stephen Maguire overcame Daniel Wells 5-2.
In this afternoon's matches, Joe Swail caused a shock by knocking out world number five Shaun Murphy.
Murphy took a scrappy first frame before losing four on the bounce to go to within a frame of defeat.
He opened the seventh frame with a match-high 53, but still found a way to lose, bowing out 2-5.
There was a similar scoreline in the match between Masters champion Ding Junhui and Peter Ebdon, with the Chinese cueman taking the match with two century breaks of 100 and 124.
Stephen Hendry`s miserable form continued as he was beaten 5-3 by Mark Selby.
The Scot was always playing catch-up after losing the first frame, with Selby going on to add a break of 105 as he kept the seven-time world champion at bay.
In the session’s other clash, Graeme Dott overcame Anthony Hamilton 5-2.
Maguire and Williams were both in action again in the evening session, and both booked their places in Saturday's last eight.
Maguire was in no mood to hang around as he beat Ricky Walden 5-0, while Williams beat fellow Welshman Dominic Dale 5-2.
The night`s other game saw Ali Carter surprisingly humbled 5-1 by Joe Perry, meaning tomorrow`s last-eight will see Dott face Maguire, Selby take on Ding, Williams meet Perry and Fu go up against Swail.
