Stephen Hendry continued his poor season as he crashed out of the China Open with a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Barry Hawkins, while home hero Ding Junhui took out Joe Perry and defending champion Graeme Dott was sent home by Barry Pinches

Hendry started well in his first round match against Hawkins as he took the opening frame, but the Scotsman's poor run this season was not about to end.

Dartford potter Hawkins, who made the semi-finals in China last year, went on a five-frame roll including breaks of 102 and 64 to dumped out Hendry.

"I'm delighted, it's a great scoreline," said Hawkins.

"I should have been in the final last year, I threw that match away. Hopefully I can keep playing like I did today and take the trophy home this time."

Hendry said that although the defeat would have no bearing on his World Championship campaign, he was still bitterly disappointed with his early exit.

"I lost because Barry played better than me," said Hendry. "I didn't get many chances after the first frame and he was the better player.

"This doesn't have any bearing on the World Championship, but it matters because I wanted to do well here. I'll have to wait until next year."

Meanwhile home favourite Ding made a winning start to his campaign as the home crowds flocked to Beijing to see him go up against Perry.

20-year-old Ding needed to battle hard to get past Perry, who held him at 3-3 before the Chinese star edged the next two frames to go through 5-3.

"I thought I played well tonight," said Ding, the China Open champion three years ago.

"I was satisfied with both my defence and attack. I have not lost in the first round this season but I am still not sure how far I can go in this tournament."

Ryan Day was a beaten finalist in the Shanghai Masters earlier this season, and he is on course to go one better after he won his opening round match against fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens.

Stevens hit breaks of 70 and 66 (twice) to lead 3-2, but Day answered with runs of 123, 75 and 83 taking him to a 5-3 success.

"There must be something in the air in China that helps me," said Day, who now plays Ken Doherty in round two.

Mark King went through courtesy of a 5-2 win over practice partner Steve Davis, with a top break of just 72 enough to see off the veteran.

But Dott's miserable season continued as the defending champion crashed out 5-1 to Englishman Pinches.

And with the defeat Dott has now failed to win his last 15 matches, the worst run of his professional career.

"I don't know what's the matter with me, I'm just playing terrible at the moment," admitted Dott.

"I'm still practising hard, but I can't get my head around it at the moment. It's difficult to take.

Norwich potter Pinches, who beat Chinese wildcard Zhang An'Da in his opening match, started the better of the two players.

A superb break of 116 saw him win the opening frame, before he held his concentration to win the next frame - which lasted nearly half an hour - on points 65-34.

Dott, who beat Stoke's Jamie Cope in last year's showcase final, responded with a break of 56 to reduce his arrears, but Pinches won the next with runs of 58 and 40 for a 3-1 interval.

And it got even better following the resumption as a composed break of 52 made it 4-1, before Dott faltered on a break of 44 in the sixth frame and Pinches won it on points 62-53 to progress to the last 16 phase.

Next up for the world number 56 is a meeting with Nigel Bond on Thursday.

"I was very good, I played pretty well," reflected a delighted Pinches. "Graeme didn't play well to be fair and I was pretty solid all the way through the match.

"He's been struggling this season, but he's a terrific player and I'm sure he'll be back.

"You have to take one match at a time, any player can win any tournament these days. Any player can win if they have a good week and a bit of luck."

Meanwhile, Bond impressed with a battling 5-3 victory over this season's SAGA Insurance Masters finalist Stephen Lee.

In the other afternoon matches Glaswegian Stephen Maguire beat Dubliner Fergal O'Brien 5-3 in a repeat of this season's Northern Ireland Trophy final, while former world champion Ken Doherty beat Cleveland cueman Mike Dunn 5-2.

O'Brien had breaks of 86, 70, 62 and 128, but former World Championship semi-finalist Maguire had breaks of 126 and 70 to progress.

Doherty pocketed a tournament high run of 140 in the opening frame against Dunn, but slipped 2-1 down after his opponent won a scrappy second frame and then knocked in a 91 run.

But breaks of 42, 40, 64 and 63 made sure Doherty made sure of his place in the last 16 phase.

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Sporting Life / Eurosport