Roewe Shanghai Masters - Day Two - big guns beaten

Today was where the Shanghai Masters really hotted up.

Day two sees the introduction of the game's elite top 16 players, and any signs that the competition may suffer in entertainment value because of the exclusions of John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan, were dismissed as myths.

We had thrills, spills and more as round one kicked off.

And plenty of this tournament's big guns were left wondering where it all went wrong, before it even begun.

Mark Allan, Ryan Day, Marco Fu and last year's finalist Liang Wenbo were all sent packing, as the game's pecking order was thrown out of the window.

Essex cueman Stuart Bingham arguably took the biggest scalp of the day, beating the world number 10 Allan by a 5-2 margin.

Bingham has been one of the success stories in the season's PTC events so far, and he carried this confidence straight into Asia to blunt the Northern Irishman's hopes here.

Welshman Day has been sliding out of form at an alarming rate over the last year.

The world number 11 is in serious danger of slipping out of the top 16, and he couldn't arrest these worries, being beaten 5-3 by a solid Andrew Higginson.

Hong Kong's Fu was many people's tip for the shock first round exit, and world ranked 22 Mark Davis didn't disappoint in his maiden season in the game's top 32.

He came out 5-4 winner in an epic battle that went to the wire.

Asia's hopes had already taken a blow earlier in the day when last year's finalist Wenbo lost 5-3 to a resurgent Matthew Stevens.

The Wales potter has promised to make this a season that counts in his return to the top fo the sport, but he faced a massive test here. He didn't fall short either.

Wenbo is now in desperate threat of dropping out of the top 16 when the rankings are aligned in October. This would see him miss out on his first ever appearance at the Wembley Masters in February.

OnCue tipped Mark Williams for the title and earmarked Stephen Maguire as a potential first round casualty.

World number six Williams lived up to his billing, fighting back from 3-1 down to beat 2008 Shanghai Masters champion Ricky Walden 5-3 with a stirring comeback to continue his love affair with competitions in Asia.

Maguire faced an in form Judd Trump, but showed no mercy beating the 21-year-old 5-3.

The day's final game saw the clash of two former world champions.

Graeme Dott proved more recent success counts beating Ken Doherty 5-4 in a nail-biter.