WILLIE THORNE suffered his heaviest professional defeat in Preston last when losing 9-0 to promising Paul Hunter in the £380,000 UK Championship.

It took the 18 year old Leeds player just 138 minutes to send Thorne crashing to an embarrassing first round exit.

Hunter finished the first session 8-0 ahead making breaks of 63, 59, 77 and 76. He completed the formalities when the match resumed in just another 10 minutes with a best effort of 84 in the closing frame.

His defeat by the World number 78 from Yorkshire was his worst, surpassing a 9-1 drubbing by Steve Davis, in the 1987 Benson and Hedges Irish Masters final. After his loss, prickly Thorne declined to comment.