UK Snooker Championship 2017: Ding Junhui loses to world number 130 Leo Fernandez

Ding won the UK Championship in 2005 and 2009

World number three Ding Junhui lost five frames in a row as he was beaten by world number 130 Leo Fernandez in the first round of the UK Championship.

Irishman Fernandez, 41, returned to the tour in August having served a 15-month ban after admitting corruption charges and had not won a match this season.

Two-time UK champion Ding rattled off six breaks of more than 50 to lead 5-1.

But Fernandez took it to a decider with a break of 80 and then sealed a 6-5 win with a brilliant final pink.

The Limerick-born player has been struggling with a slipped disc in his back and said he was in a fair amount of pain during "the biggest win of his career".

"When I was 5-1 down I was thinking about having to get the train home, but I hadn't played badly," he added. "It's an amazing feeling to beat a player as good as Ding."

There were also victories for Marco Fu and Welshman Ryan Day in the afternoon session on the first day at the York Barbican.

The evening's play saw John Higgins, a 29-time ranking event winner and three-time UK champion, beat fellow Scot Chris Totten 6-1.

World number 15 Kyren Wilson was in impressive form, hitting breaks of 108, 96 and 101 as he thrashed Sean O'Sullivan 6-1 in all-English encounter, while Chinese teenager Yan Bingtao and Stephen Maguire also progressed.

Back from a ban with a bang

Fernandez won the first frame and then the final five in succession for a famous victory

But the story of the day was Fernandez pulling off one of the biggest shocks in UK Championship history against China's Ding.

Fernandez was suspended by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) in July 2016 after playing the first foul shot of a World Championship qualifier against Gary Wilson in April that year, a foul which enabled other people to profit by betting on it.

Fernandez had lost all four of his matches on tour this season, winning just four frames in the process, but he took the opener against Ding.

Ding was then on top of his game as he then won five consecutive frames and had a great chance to clinch a 6-1 success but became increasingly frustrated thereafter.

And Fernandez, who has only twice been past the second round of a ranking event in 22-year career, held his nerve to sink a fine pink to the middle pocket to win through.

Dominant Day and Fu go through

Hong Kong's world number seven Fu scored breaks of 83, 69 and 89 as he raced into a 4-0 lead against veteran Englishman Nigel Bond, but was made to battle before closing out a 6-2 win.

World number 19 Day, who earned his first career ranking event title at the Riga Masters in June, thrashed Englishman Jamie Curtis-Barrett 6-0.

Day broke down on a 147 chance when he was on 122, but ended with two centuries and three further breaks of more than 80 to progress in emphatic fashion.

He was joined in the second round by England's Mark King, a 6-1 victor against Thaliand's Boonyarit Keattikun.

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