Higgins potted all 15 reds and blacks but ran out of position on the yellow in the first frame of his second-round match against Mark Williams.

If the Scot had completed the maximum it would have given him the opportunity to pot the 20-point 'golden ball', which sits on the bottom cushion for as long as a maximum break is possible and is worth £395,000 if potted in addition to the 147.

Higgins shrugged off his disappointment to complete a 4-2 win over Williams at almost 2.30am in Riyadh, setting up a quarter-final against Ronnie O'Sullivan on Tuesday.

In the other first-round match played on Monday, Ali Carter repelled a fightback from Ding Junhui to triumph 4-3 and reach the last eight.

Higgins and Ding, who both entered the tournament as wildcards, began with whitewash wins over Omar Alajlani of Saudi Arabia and Qatar's Ali Alobaidli respectively.