Ireland's Mark Allen suffered a surprise exit at the hands of Ricky Walden in the first round of the China Open in Beijing today.

Ken Doherty came from 3-1 and 4-2 down to beat Mohammad Sajjad 5-4 and avoid an embarrassing first-round exit in the Shanghai Masters.

Irish snooker star Ken Doherty has failed to qualify for the China Open after an embarrassing defeat against a rookie opponent today.

Stephen Hendry began his new snooker campaign with a fortuitous win in Preston tonight.