Ronnie O'Sullivan suffered another first round exit when Ryan Day beat him 4-2 in the Wales Open.
O'Sullivan, who went out in the opening round at both the UK Championship and Masters, missed the recent German Masters before playing in Newport.
Day moved into a 2-0 lead thanks to breaks of 109 and 113 and although O'Sullivan replied with a 100, the Welshman restored his two-frame lead.
O'Sullivan cut the gap to 3-2 but Day stayed cool to secure victory.
Day put O'Sullivan under pressure straight away, recording breaks of 109 followed by 113 to surge into a two frame advantage.
O'Sullivan hit back with a quick-fire century to cut the deficit but Day took the fourth frame, aided by 24 points from his opponent, who took seven attempts to escape from a snooker.
O'Sullivan reduced Day's lead to 3-2 following a break of 56 but, with a chance to level the game at 3-3, O'Sullivan missed a crucial pink.
Looking to disturb the final red which was awkwardly placed by a side cushion, O'Sullivan's attempted pot of the pink missed by some margin, but left the ball over the pocket for Day.
Day grasped his chance to win the frame and then match to set up an all-Welsh second-round match with fellow qualifier Matthew Stevens, with the winner to play defending champion John Higgins in the quarter-finals.
"I'm looking forward to playing my good friend Matthew in the next round," said a delighted Day. "It is a pity we could not have met in the final, but that's just the way it has to be."
O'Sullivan, who was number nine in the world rankings before heading to Wales this week, admitted he is concerned by his form and ranking.
"I've not played in as many tournaments as the other players, and I missed the German Masters because of illness," O'Sullivan said. "My ranking position concerns me and it could get worse - I could drop out of the top 64."
The three-time world champion admitted he is out of the routine of practising properly.
"Every credit to Ryan, he played well and deserved it. But my preparation is not as good as it used to be. I only practised an hour last Friday and an hour today."
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