A review of the action on the second day of the English Open as Mark Williams, Neil Robertson and David Gilbert progressed to the second round.
Williams finishes in style
Mark Williams progressed to the second round but only after overcoming stubborn resistance from Jamie Clarke.
A break of 61 was the best Williams could muster as he fought hard to inch into a 3-2 lead but he finished in the match in terrific style, making a fabulous total clearance of 142 in frame six to seal his 4-2 victory.
Williams admitted he’s struggling to find his love for the game, after limping into the second round of the 19.com English Open in Crawley.
“I didn’t enjoy it today,” the 44-year-old said.
“I’m not putting enough work in to get good results and that’s what you’ve got to do if you want to do well in any competition.
“I just don’t want to play, and I’m finding any excuse not to go to the club and practice.
“As a result, I’m having to fight my way through matches and I’m scraping through. Jamie played well today, and he could have gone 3-2 up, but luckily I didn’t give him a chance in the last frame, and I got over the line.”
Robertson eases past Hirani
Neil Robertson eased into the second round with a 4-0 victory over Kishan H Hirani.
The Australian was in an unforgiving mood, allowing his opponent to score a total of just three points in the opening three frames, winning 75-2, 76-1 and 124-0, with that third frame witnessing a match high break of 118 from Robertson.
Hirani did respond with a run of 52 in the fourth frame, but it was not enough as Robertson again took control and completed a 4-0 whitewash.
Gilbert impresses in Carrington cruise
David Gilbert began his English Open campaign with an impressive 4-1 defeat of Stuart Carrington.
Gilbert, who is still searching for his first ranking title success, produced a dazzling display that saw him race into a 3-0 lead thanks to breaks of 75, 112 and 94, before Carrington stopped the rot with a run of 86 in frame three.
Any thoughts of a comeback were quickly put to bed, however, when Giblert closed out the match with a break of 56, setting up a second-round meeting with Ryan Davies.
Thepchaiya trounces Maguire
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh took less than an hour to whitewash Stephen Maguire with a remarkable performance which included one century and three more breaks over 50.
Contributions of 86 and 65 signalled Thepchaiya's early intentions and he raced round the table to compile a fabulous run of 117 in frame three before finishing the match with a similarly brisk break of 75.
Thepchaiya, whose average shot time in the match was 15 seconds flat, will face Joe O'Connor in round two.
Tuesday's early action also included comfortable wins for Sam Craigie, Ricky Walden and Yuan Sijun.
Vafaei battles through
Hossein Vafaei once again demonstrated his battling qualities as he came from 3-2 down to beat Simon Lichtenberg in a tense affair, the former edging each of the final two frames which could have so easily gone the other way.
Breaks of 52, 76 and 59 helped Zhao Xintong get the better of Scott Donaldson but he needed to win a dramatic re-spotted black in the seventh and deciding frame to book his place in the last 64.
Day dazzles in Sharav whitewash
Ryan Day looked close to something like his best form as he whitewashed Eden Sharav 4-0 with a dominant display.
The classy Welshman has endured a quiet start to this current campaign but had his game in good working order from the off in this round-one match, opening up with a break of 60 and adding further contributions of 70 and 108 as Sharav registered only 32 points in the whole match.
Allen comes through Wattana test
Mark Allen was given a good workout by veteran James Wattana before eventually prevailing 4-2.
A break of 58 saw Wattana draw level at 2-2 and he found himself presented with an excellent chance in frame five before missing a simple pink to middle, Allen stepping in with a brilliant break of 125 to get his nose back in front.
A run of 87 in frame six was enough to get Allen over the winning line though he was grateful for an outrageous fluked blue keeping his break going on 61.
There was no such luck for Jimmy White, The Whirlwind going down 4-2 to Bai Langning, but Kyren Wilson and Jack Lisowski had few alarms as they both recorded comfortable victories.