White sent crashing

The former UK Open champion, who has slipped down to number 56 in the provisional rankings after a poor recent run of form, lost three of the first four frames of a tense encounter.

Despite a late fightback, which included a fine break of 73, White lost the crucial ninth frame to exit the tournament.

"It was a very scrappy match, we"ve both been struggling this season," said Allen, ranked 34 in the world, after his victory. "I made a few mistakes but I played a good last frame, Jimmy didn"t see a ball until he needed snookers.

"It's sad to see him not performing and he must be a bit embarassed by the way he's playing. There's a lot at stake and it's tough to come here, especially as he's played in front of packed houses and millions on TV."

Allen will go on to play world number 33 Ian McCulloch in the next round.

John Parrott fought back from 4-3 down to overcome Jimmy Michie 5-4, and earn a match against former European Open finalist Joe Perry.

The Liverpudlian racked up an excellent 132 break in the fourth frame, before taking three of the final four frames to close out the match.

Rising star Jamie Cope had no trouble reaching the televised stages with a 5-0 victory over Mike Dunn.

The gifted Stoke potter, who scored a maximum break en-route to the final of the Grand Prix earlier this season, compiled breaks of 40, 41, 49, 44, 64, 131 and 48 as he swept past the 35-year from Redcar.

Cope will now face provisional world number five Ding Junhui at the last 48 stage in Newport in February.

But home favourite Dominic Dale went down 5-4 to Jamie Burnett who scored a 113 break in the deciding frame and former top 16 players Tony Drago of Malta and Ireland's Fergal O'Brien lost 5-2 to Michael Judge and Mark Woollaston respectively.

Mark Davis 4-5 Liang Wenbo
Marcus Campbell 4-5 Joe Delaney
Michael Judge 5-2 Tony Drago
Drew Henry 0-5 Andrew Higginson
Jamie Cope 5-0 Mike Dunn
Dominic Dale 4-5 Jamie Burnett
Rod Lawler 5-3 Andrew Norman
Adrian Gunnell 5-0 Alex Borg
Ricky Walden 5-1 Stuart Pettman
Tom Ford 1-5 Ian Preece
Fergal O'Brien 2-5 Ben Woollaston
Jimmy White 4-5 Mark Allen
John Parrott 5-4 Jimmy Michie
Gerard Greene 5-3 Rory McLeod
Dave Harold 5-3 David Morris
Barry Pinches 4-5 Dave Gilbert