Welsh Open: Mark Selby knocked out by Luca Brecel

Mark Selby is the current world champion

World champion Mark Selby has been knocked out in the last 16 of the Welsh Open by Belgian youngster Luca Brecel.

Selby was seeking back-to-back titles after he won the German Masters earlier this month but slipped to a 4-3 loss to Brecel, ranked 66th in the world.

Brecel, 19, told World Snooker: "I was confident. That's the thing I worked on hard - how to beat the top players."

Meanwhile, John Higgins secured a place in the quarter-finals with a 4-2 victory over Michael Georgiou.

World number one Selby, 31, led 2-0 and then 3-2 in Cardiff but Brecel, who became the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible back in 2012, took the crucial sixth frame following a 101 break.

In the final frame Brecel built a 46-0 lead before the Englishman missed a red to the top corner. The Belgian then kept his nerve to close out the match.

He will face either Stuart Bingham or Ricky Walden on Friday.