2019 Masters Day 1

John Higgins 5-6 Ryan Day

Higgins, 43, who won the tournament in 1999 and 2006, won three of the opening four frames, including a break of 65, to race into a 3-1 lead.

But Day, 38, fought his way back into the match with three successive breaks of 52, 111 and 83.

The Welshman finished with a 128, the highest break of the match, to clinch the deciding frame.

"It was great to finish the match like that, in one hit," Day said after the match. "Even if he thinks his game's not in great shape, he's always difficult and clever with the shots he plays."

It was frustration for Higgins once again, who faced Day in a final frame decider in Shanghai earlier this year.

"That's twice he's done that against me this year," Higgins said. "It's the right result, he played a lot better than I did, I was pretty bad."

Reigning champion Mark Allen is out of the Masters following a 6-5 defeat by world number 14 Luca Brecel in the tournament's opening match in London.

The Northern Irishman trailed 3-1 at the mid-session interval at Alexandra Palace but levelled with a 136 break.

But Belgian Brecel, 23, hit back with a 140 in a high-quality match that also saw seven half-century breaks.

World number six Allen knocked in a 99 to level at 5-5 but an error in the decider allowed Brecel to advance.

Allen, 32, knocked a red into a middle pocket but the cue ball cannoned off the green into the opposite pocket.

"It was so tough to get over the line in the last frame, but I managed to play a few safeties and [Allen] made a mistake," Brecel, who moves into the quarter-finals, told BBC Sport.

"Last year, I was always doing the right things but maybe not trying hard enough.

"This year, I said to my girlfriend and my parents that 2019 was going to be a new mindset, dedicated, just snooker and nothing else.

"It's working and I've have been playing well the past few months."

Allen, from Antrim, won three titles last year, including his maiden Triple Crown title when he beat Kyren Wilson in last year's Masters final.

He narrowly missed the chance to win a second Triple Crown trophy in December when he was defeated by Ronnie O'Sullivan in the UK Championship final.