Gifted Belgian teenager Luca Brecel reached the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open with a 4-3 victory over World champion Mark Selby.

World number one Selby was aiming to win back-to-back titles having captured the German Masters, but suffered a surprise defeat against a player 65 places below him in the rankings.

Brecel, 19, jumped into the snooker spotlight in 2012 when he became the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible, then reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship.

Selby led 2-0 and 3-2, making breaks of 131 and 114, but Brecel showed his own break-building ability with a 101 in frame six.

In the decider, Brecel built a46-0 lead then Selby had a chance to counter, but he missed a short range red to a top corner on 20. Brecel kept his composure with a further run of 27.

Ben Woollaston reached the second ranking event quarter-final of his career by beating Ali Carter 4-2. Leicester’s Woollaston, who had already knocked out Mark Davis and Mark Allen this week, fired in breaks of 65, 103, 108 and 51.

Other results: Williams bt Trump 4-1; Higgins bt Georgiou 4-2.

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