Shaun Murphy’s slow start to the season continued on Thursday after he was knocked out of English Open in round three by fellow Englishman Robert Milkins.

Murphy had already lost in qualifying for three tournaments ahead of the event in Crawley, but he did demonstrate some of his better form when dispatching compatriot Mike Dunn 4-1 in round one. ‘The Magician’ then ousted Englishman David Gilbert 4-2 to set up a third-round contest with Milkins, who defeated Lu Ning and Elliot Slessor to reach this stage of the tournament.

Both players struggled to produce their best form, with just one break of over 50 made between the pair, but it was the 2005 world champion Murphy who crashed out after slipping to a 4-1 loss.

The defeat means the 36-year-old is yet to go past the third round of any event this season and he is currently priced at 26.00 to win the 2019 World Championship.

In two of the other major events on tour, Murphy is 23.00 to land the 2019 Masters for the second time while he is 29.00 to win the 2018 UK Championship for the first time since 2008.

Elsewhere, Matthew Stevens’ English Open run came to an end after he was on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat to number one seed, Ronnie O’Sullivan. The Welshman has now lost 17 of their 22 meetings, with his last victory against the ‘Rocket’ coming at the 2015 Welsh Open.

Englishman Craig Steadman’s quest for glory is also over after he lost 4-0 to Scotland’s Eden Sharav, who had ousted China’s Liang Wenbo in the previous round.