Mark Allen won the Riyadh Season Championship tournament in December
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen lost 4-2 to Jimmy Robertson in the first round of the World Grand Prix at the Kai Tak Arena in Hong Kong.
Breaks of 50 and 63 helped world number seven Allen into a 2-0 lead, but his English opponent replied with runs of 65, 68 and 50 to win the next three frames.
Robertson, world-ranked number 36, then won frame six to book his place in the next round of the tournament at the expense of his seventh-ranked opponent.
Allen also fell at the first hurdle in the World Open last week, going down 5-4 to England’s David Lilley in the last 64 in Yushan, China.
Four-time world champion and recent Welsh Open winner Mark Selby beat Wales’ Jackson Page 4-3, Neil Robertson whitewashed Yuan Sijun 4-0 and Barry Hawkins got the better of Tom Ford 4-1.
Xiao Guodong emerged a 4-3 victor over Jak Jones, Elliot Slessor lost 4-2 to Lei Peifan and Xu Si defeated Ding Junhui 4-3.
Higgins wins World Open for first title in four years