Snooker star John Higgins will end 2021 without a trophy after shock early exit to Tom Ford at the World Grand Prix in Coventry.
The Wizard of Wishaw came into the event off the back of reaching the final at last week's Scottish Open, where he was comfortably beaten 9-5 by Belgian Luca Berecel.
Higgins had reached the final - his fourth this season - following a 6-1 thrashing of familiar foe Ronnie O'Sullivan in Saturday's semi-final, but he suffered the same fate that befell him at the English Open, Northern Ireland Open and Champion of Champions events this season as he had to settle for the runner-up prize.
He would have hoped to have gone some way to putting that behind him when he faced Tom Ford in yesterday's first round of the Grand Prix.
But Higgins was unable to get a hold of the match and, despite a mini-rally to level things up at 2-2, Ford saw the match out with a break of 130 in the clinching frame to book a place in the last 16.
It means Higgins' wait for a title this season will go into the new year with his next shot at a trophy coming in January's Cazoo Masters in London.
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