Mark Selby continues his search for a title on Thursday after suffering an early exit at the Six Red World Championship, a hunt that is approaching its first anniversary.
The World number six was defeated 6-2 by Stuart Bingham in the last 16 in Thailand as he moves closer to a year without any addition of silverware to his trophy cabinet.
It is an uncommon thing for the three-time World Champion to give 12 months titleless, winning 31 tournaments since he first tasted success far back in 2007 at the Warsaw Snooker Tour.
Since then the Jester from Leicester has been able to pick up three Masters Titles, two UK Championships, three China Opens and two International Championships in a wildly successful time on the baize.
Things, however, have slowed down for Selby with his last triumph in September last year at the China Championship.
The 36-year-old beat John Higgins 10-9 in the final in Guangzhou on 30 September, leaving Selby with just two tournaments left to get his hands on a trophy before reaching the anniversary.
The Shanghai Masters begins on 9 September while the China Championship begins on 23 September thus giving Selby the opportunity to defend his title.
Selby will take on either Jack Lisowski or a Chinese qualifier in Shanghai, while he still has a qualifying match to play in Guangzhou against Chen Feilong.
All is set for the quarter-final at the Six Red World Championship, with some of the best names in the game making it through into the last eight.
Mark Williams arguably produced the best performance of the last 16, pulverizing Joe Perry 6-1.
Below is the Last round of 16 results, Quarter-final results and semifinal fixtures
Last 16 results
Stuart Bingham 6-2 Mark Selby
John Higgins 6-4 Wu Yize
David Gilbert 6-4 Kyren Wilson
Mark Williams 6-1 Joe Perry
Passakorn Suwannawat 5-6 Ali Carter
Stephen Maguire 6-5 Jimmy White
Ding Junhui 6-4 Graeme Dott
Gary Wilson 6-5 Yan Bingtao
Quarter-final fixtures
John Higgins 6-4 David Gilbert
Stuart Bingham 6-3 Mark Williams
Ali Carter 5-6 Stephen Maguire
Ding Junhui 2-6 Gary Wilson.
Semi-final fixtures
John Higgins vs Mark Williams
Gary Wilson vs Stephen Maguire
Written by: Aruorihwo Imisa