Jimmy White, who has fallen to 51st in the provisional rankings, suffered another setback when he was beaten 5-3 by Andrew Higginson, the world No77 from Widnes, in the third qualifying round of the Malta Cup in Prestatyn.

White, who failed to qualify for the final stages of the season's first two ranking events, the Northern Ireland Trophy and Grand Prix, led 3-1 at the interval but lost the last four frames to be denied a place in the final qualifying round.

"I hope he gets back to where he was because he's a fabulous player," Higginson said.

Jamie Cope, the surprise runner-up in last weekend's Grand Prix, was beaten 5-2 by China's Tian Pengfei.