CHINESE teenage sensation Zhao Jianbo stunned Stuart Bingham at the Northern Ireland Open as the Basildon potter was dumped out in the second round.

Former world champion Bingham, 44, had eased past Oliver Lines in his first round match on Tuesday but ran into an in-form Zhao the next day and went down 4-2 in Milton Keynes.

The world number 11 got off to a flyer under the Marshall Arena lights but a roaring comeback from Zhao, still just 17, thwarted his hopes of progression at the second Home Nations event of the season.

Bingham came out of the traps with alacrity as a fluent visit of 98 put him in control.

But back came the world number 110 to restore parity before a third frame effort of 82 edged him in front of his decorated Essex opponent.

The Asian player then won a scrappy fourth frame and while Bingham pinched the fifth to make it 3-2, Zhao showed maturity beyond his years to make a gutsy break of 65 and book his place in the last 32.

The result extended Bingham’s mixed run of form on the busy snooker circuit, losing 4-0 against world number one Judd Trump – who struck a maximum 147 break in his second round match against Gao Yang - in the Champion of Champions but winning both his matches in German Masters qualifying.

The six-time ranking event winner will now turn his attention to the prestigious UK Championship, one of snooker’s three Triple Crown events – alongside the World Championship and Masters – which is also being held in Milton Keynes.

The event is usually hosted by the historic York Barbican but will move almost 150 miles south this year to the Marshall Arena as snooker continues to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There Bingham will face fellow Basildon star Zak Surety, who was also in second round action at the Northern Ireland Open on Wednesday but went down 4-1 against Chinese player Zhao Xintong.

Surety, the world number 122, took the lead with a first frame break of 59 but visits of 84, 77, 57 and 56 from the world number 29 dashed the 29-year-old’s hopes of progression.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, former Basildon resident Allan Taylor – who now lives in Birkenhead – shocked world number 18 Joe Perry 4-1 in his second round match.

World number 101 Taylor will now meet Thailand’s world number 15 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the last 32 on Thursday, widely regarded as the fastest player on the World Snooker Tour.

>Watch the Northern Ireland Open live on Eurosport, Eurosport app, and stream on discovery+