Snooker: Sussex star Robertson savours victory over world champion Kyren Wilson

The Bexhill cueman won 6-4 against Kyren Wilson, who claimed the sport's biggest title in Sheffield back in May, in the last 16 in Riyadh after beating John Higgins 5-2 in the last 32.

Robertson's victory over Wilson avenged an agonising 5-4 loss to the same opponent at the same stage of the Xi'an Grand Prix in China last month, when Wilson rallied from 4-2 behind.

On this occasion, Robertson came from 2-1 down to lead 3-2 thanks to an 83 clearance to clinch frame five and a run of 77 two frames later gave him a 4-3 advantage.

Although world number two Wilson edged a tight eighth frame to level at 4-4, Robertson took the ninth to lead again and sealed a statement result with a nerveless break of 73 in frame 10.

Robertson previously saw off four-time Crucible king Higgins, who is now ranked 16th in the world, 5-2 in the last 32.

The 38-year-old opened up a 3-0 lead with breaks of 66 and 51 before producing a 122 to go 4-1 in front and then a 63 to finish the job.

Prior to that, Robertson whitewashed Rory Thor 5-0 with a top break of 92 and came from 3-2 down to edge out Fan Zhengyi 4-3 in a contest where he made runs of 127 and 81.

The former European Masters champion overcame amateur Mohamed Elkhayat 4-2 in his opening match aided by breaks of 138, 87, 73 and 61.

Robertson was eventually beaten 6-0 by three-time world champion Mark Williams, but his five wins before that moved him up 14 places in the world rankings to 38th.

Meanwhile, St Leonards-based world number 59 Mark Davis lost 4-3 to Bulcsu Revesz in his opening game, despite leading 3-2 at one stage with runs of 79, 75 and 59.

The Saudi Arabia Masters - dubbed the unofficial 'fourth major' by organisers - is the most lucrative tournament in snooker after the World Championship.