The seeds continued to fall at the Olympos in Burgess Hill in yesterday's four opening second round matches. Three top-ranked players lost, bringing the total to 12 who have bowed out of contention in the WBT International Open. Only Wales' Jason Greenslade managed to progress.

The closest call came in the David Gourlay and Trevor Taylor match, with No.4 seed Gourlay losing after Carlisle qualifier Taylor drew to a ditched white to count the vital single on the last end of the best-of-three tie-break to take a 12-5, 7-8, 2-1 victory.

Gourlay said: "It was a great game and could have gone either way. Although the score suggests otherwise, I was happy with the way I played in the first set. Trevor played a succession of great conversion shots with his last bowl and there's nothing you can do about that, and I had to start chasing the scoreline.

"I played a good first end in the tie-break but was disappointed with my second. In the third I would have preferred to have taken Trevor's two shot bowls out of the head rather than ditch the jack, but he played a good bowl to take the end."

Qualifier Darren Burnett is the only Scot left in contention and his second round opponent today is Robert Weale, from Wales, seeded 10. The Paisley-based Irishman, Jonathan Ross, and Mark Royal, from Ipswich, are the other seeds remaining.