BELGIUM, Oct. 3, 2018 (News Wires) - Andrew Higginson beat 2010 world champion Neil Robertson at the first-round stage of the European Masters in Lommel, Belgium. Robertson and Higginson shared the opening four frames with Higginson's breaks of 56 and 88 bookended by Robertson's runs of 81 and 87. The match swung decisively in the favour of Higginson following a tense frame five, won by Higginson in two visits. The Widnes Warrior cleared from the brown to take the frame on the black. Robertson, whose form has dipped since winning the season-opening Riga Masters, was unable to muster a response, with a run of 76 enough for Higginson to set up a second-round clash with Joe Perry. Elsewhere, Alan McManus secured his spot in round two after he beat Yan Bingtao on the final black. In a match low on quality, Bingtao's 43 in frame six represented the contest's highest breaking with the 47-year-old McManus' high-scoring in frame four with a 36. 2017 champion Judd Trump made light work of Liam Highfield coasting to a 4-0 win, with runs of 72, 60 and 87 enough for the 29-year-old to set up a second-round match against Pengfei Tian. In the evening session, world number one Mark Selby overcame Sam Craigie 4-1 in a fraught affair - the Jester from Leicester took a three-frame lead, compiling his highest break of the match - a 54 - in frame two but world number 104 Craigie took a tense frame four. However, Selby, in fine form having just won the China Championship, sealed the match by taking the next frame to set up a showdown with Mark Davis.
