Higgins and Lisowski knocked out of NI Open

John Higgins and reigning champion Jack Lisowski became the latest big names to fall at the Northern Ireland Open, but home favourite Jordan Brown progressed to the third round.

After an emotional victory in Belfast last year, Lisowski was knocked out in the second round at the Waterfront Hall after losing 4-1 to Anthony McGill.

Four-time world champion Higgins was another high-profile casualty as he fell to a 4-2 defeat by Wales' Jak Jones, while Stuart Bingham also exited with a 4-0 loss to Ka Wai Cheung.

But there was success for Northern Ireland's Brown, who had beaten friend Mark Allen in an emotional first-round match on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Brown won the final two frames against Michael Holt to prevail 4-3 and set up a third-round encounter with Scott Donaldson.

Wales' Mark Williams defeated Zhang Anda 4-2, while there were also wins for Daniel Wells and David Gilbert on Wednesday.

Two-time semi-finalist Elliot Slessor defeated Jamie Jones 4-1 while 2023 world champion Luca Brecel exited with a 4-2 reverse to Martin O'Donnell.

Second round results - Wednesday, 21 October

Pang Junxu 4-3 Liam Davies

Ka Wai Cheung 4-0 Stuart Bingham

John Higgins 2-4 Jak Jones

Daniel Wells 4-3 Ryan Day

Sam Craigie 4-3 Xu Si

Mark Williams 4-2 Zhang Anda

Scott Donaldson 4-1 Noppon Saengkham

Jordan Brown 4-3 Michael Holt

David Gilbert 4-3 Gao Yang

Elliot Slessor 4-1 Jamie Jones

Martin O'Donnell 4-2 Luca Brecel

Third round matches - Thursday 22 October

From 13:00 BST

Matthew Selt v Sam Craigie

Kyren Wilson v Pang Junxu

Anthony McGill v Mateusz Baranowski

Elliot Slessor v Ricky Walden

Mark Williams v Martin O'Donnell

David Gilbert v Ka Wai Cheung

Jordan Brown v Scott Donaldson

Jak Jones v Daniel Wells