Fan Zhengyi and Marco Fu suffer early exits in British Open qualifying, Jamie Clarke and Cao Yupeng through

European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi and three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu suffered early exits in British Open qualifying on Saturday. Fan lost 4-0 to Crucible qualifier Jamie Clarke, who made breaks of 77, 59 and 50 with Fan's 54 in the third frame not enough to prevent the whitewash.

Ad China's world No. 37 begins the defence of his European Masters title against Michael Judge in Furth on Tuesday.

British OpenHamilton whitewashes White at British Open, Gilbert eases through14 HOURS AGO Former Scottish Open finalist Cao Yupeng completed a 4-1 victory against three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu on the other table at the Robin Park Leisure Centre in Wigan. Fu won the first frame with a 50 knock before Cao rolled in 60, 69 and 55 to seal his place in the random last-64 draw.

Mark Williams is the defending British Open champion after a 6-4 win over Gary Wilson in last year's final. The world's top 16 all begin their respective campaigns at the season's third ranking event in Milton Keynes next month.