German Masters - Peter draws a line across Higgins

It's the first day of action at the Betfair German Masters 2013 in Berlin and the big story of the day was the surprise exit of John Higgins to Peter Lines. Andrew Higginson & Norway's Kurt Maflin also beat higher ranked opponents to progress.

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Professional snooker came back to the German capital today, as the Betfair German Masters returns for it's third year at the 2,500 capacity Tempodrom Arena, right in the center of Berlin.

Always well attended and loved by the local fans, this year's event had a lot to live up for especially after the previous stagings and today on day one the fans were not disappointed as three higher ranked players fell by the wayside.

The biggest of these was Shanghai Masters and four-times former world champion John Higgins who suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Peter Lines, who's best run came at the 2009 UK Championship when he reached the quarter-finals.

Peter Lines - Beat John Higgins 5-3

Today Higgins was just not at the races as he never could find the lead. A top run of 96 put the Leeds man 4-2 up before a ultimately finishing out with breaks of 55 and 38 to see off the Scotsman 5-3.

He plays another world champion tomorrow in the form of Ken Doherty, who's not to say he can't reach the quarter-finals of a major event again or even go further after today's showing.

Another top 16 star to fall at the first hurdle was Stuart Bingham, who couldn't find any momentum in a scrappy encounter against Andrew Higginson and ultimately was sent home by a 5-1 scoreline.

There were no such problems for the other high ranked players however as world no.1, Masters & UK Champion; Mark Selby as well as; Judd Trump, Matthew Stevens, Ali Carter, Barry Hawkins, Steven Maguire, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen, Mark Williams, Ding Junhui & Dominic Dale all made it through to the next round.

Kurt Maflin - Saw off Xiao Gudong 5-4.

The final match today was between Norway's Kurt Maflin and up-and-coming Chinese potter Xiao Guodong. It was Xiao who found himself closest to the winning line first at 4-3 with a top run of 65 in the fifth frame.

With his back against the wall, Maflin showed why he is one of the best break-builders on the tour (currently 12th on the season century list), compiling unanswered breaks of 85 and 94 to stun his young opponent and come through a 5-4 winner. He faces a tougher test against either Mark Williams or Michael Holt tomorrow evening.

Betfair German Masters 2013 - Day One Results

Last 64

Mark Williams (Wal) 5-1 Martin O'Donnell (Eng)
Shaun Murphy (Eng) 5-1 Ben Woolaston (Eng)
Mark Allen (NI) 5-2 Nigel Bond (Eng)
Dominic Dale (Wal) 5-3 Jimmy White (Eng)
Ding Junhui (Chn) 5-4 Liu Chuang (Chn)
Neil Robertson (Aus) 5-0 Daniel Wells (Wal)
John Higgins (Sco) 3-5 Peter Lines (Eng)
Stephen Maguire (Sco) 5-3 Alan McManus (Sco)
Mark Selby (Eng) 5-2 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Tha)
Judd Trump (Eng) 5-4 James Wattana (Tha)

Last 32

Xiao Guodong (Chn) 4-5 Kurt Maflin (Eng)
Andrew Higginson (Eng) 5-1 Stuart Bingham (Eng)
Fraser Patrick (Sco) 3-5 Ali Carter (Eng)
Matthew Stevens (Wal) 5-1 Jamie Burnett (Sco)
Dechawat Poomjaeng (Tha) 2-5 Barry Hawkins (Eng)