BEIJING - Big names including Mark Williams, John Higgins and home favorite Ding Junhui said early goodbye in the first round of 2019 World Snooker China Open here on Tuesday.

In a clash of two generations of snooker stars in Asia, Ding played against James Wattana from Thailand in the night session. The Thai soon took a 3-1 lead into the interval before Ding cut the deficit down to 2-3. Wattana led by 5-3 before the ninth frame in which he demonstrated amazing techniques on Ding's snookers to win the match.

"Felt like sleepwalk in the game, maybe we are too familiar with each other," Said Ding who just celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday, "Bad performance in one day or one game will cost you the whole tournament."

Among the top six players in the world, Mark Williams, John Higgins and Judd Trump were eliminated on the same day, joining Mark Selby, the defending champion who lost in the preliminary round on Monday.

"It was weird, sometimes the stars just crash out at the same time, sometimes they all head into the next round," said Ding, "That's a puzzle."