Ronnie O'Sullivan's faltering career took another nosedive as he crashed out of the Shenzhen Open to world No. 64 Jiang Jun.
The seven-time world champion was playing his first match since reaching the semifinals of the Wuhan Open in August, and only his third ranking tournament of the current season.
But he proved no match for 21-year-old Jun, who got off to a flying start in the pair's first ever meeting then wrapped up an impressive 5-2 win with a break of 108.
O'Sullivan had spoken of being afflicted by a "disease" after his defeat to Chang Bingyu in Wuhan, and gave himself 18 months to save his career.
On this evidence, the sport could soon be seeing the back of a player commonly regarded as the greatest to ever play the game.
He missed two simple reds in the first two frames as Jiang, a quarterfinalist at both the Scottish and Welsh Opens last year, swept up to establish a 2-0 lead.
O'Sullivan, who has cited medical reasons for his withdrawal from the majority of recent events, looked to be seriously lacking a competitive edge but he managed to rouse himself to reach the interval on level terms after consecutive breaks of 92 and 52.
But the young Chinese player was undeterred, capitalising on a safety error from O'Sullivan to nudge back in front with a break of 48 after the resumption and producing an impressive display of long potting to move within one frame of victory.
O'Sullivan got in first and split the reds but missed a long pot and handed the chance to Jiang, who coolly responded with a match-winning century.
When O'Sullivan will return to the tour is uncertain. He has withdrawn from next week's International Championship in Nanjing after being required to play in a UK-based qualifying round.
Also on Monday, Judd Trump whitewashed Huang Jiahao 5-0 but defending champion Mark Williams was edged out 5-4 by China's Fan Zhengyi.