Wins over Rod Lawler, Darren Morgan and Andrew Norman set up a quarter-final clash with Barry Hawkins at the Grand Prix.

Holt lost 5-1 to Hawkins and their seasons went in opposite directions from that point onwards.

Strangely his next four matches saw him beat the same person twice (Judd Trump) and lose to the same person twice (Joe Swail).

Holt then won a deciding frame against Ricky Walden at the UK Championship before tamely going down 9-2 to an out-of-form Mark Williams.

At the Welsh Open, the world number 23 played very solidly to beat home favourite Dominic Dale, but then squandered a 4-2 lead against Ken Doherty to go down 5-4.

It is quite possible that the negative memories of that loss came back to haunt him in China because, after a superb victory over Shaun Murphy in the first round, Holt lost 5-4 to Joe Perry in round two. However, it is the manner of the defeat which is the most concerning. Having let a 4-2 lead slip, he missed an easy ball in the decider and shockingly, with 11 reds remaining, promptly conceded frame and match to Perry.

Between the two tournaments, he did manage to regroup and qualify for Sheffield with a routine 10-2 victory over Stuart Pettman. However, with obvious question marks over his temperament and state of mind going into the fortnight, he does not look a good bet to match his 2005 debut, where he reached the second round.

Prediction: First-round checkout