Ronnie O'Sullivan made short work of Andy Hicks as he progressed to the last 16 of the World Grand Prix with a comfortable 4-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
The Rocket remains without a title success since the 2020 World Championship, but he has continued to knock hard on the door and reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Open only last week.
He didn't need to be at his best to see off his veteran opponent in Coventry, dominating three of the first four frames which were largely scrappy affairs, before putting the match to bed with a fluent run of 60 in frame five.
"I only got to the venue about ten minutes before the game today," the 46-year-old told World Snooker Tour.
"If there is a Marks & Spencer around with a cafe, I can never resist the scones with clotted cream and a cup of tea. I managed to arrive just in time.
"It was a nice crowd today and a great venue, it’s good to be here."
It was similarly straightforward for Hossein Vafaei who beat Gary Wilson by the same scoreline, his high break of 119 the highlight of the match.
Trump dumped out by Ford
Defending champion Judd Trump later suffered a second round exit against Tom Ford, who had beaten John Higgins in last round.
World number two Trump, who has not won a ranking title since March, took the opening two frames, but Ford responded with breaks of 133 and 65.
The match went to a deciding frame, which saw Trump miss the chance to wrap up victory with a missed black as Ford returned to the table to edge it 61-51 and secure a memorable result as he moved into the quarter-finals.
Neil Robertson made breaks of 108 and 74 as he beat Anthony Hamilton 4-1, and the Australian will next meet Yan Bingtao, who coasted to a 4-0 win over Martin Gould.
Brecel brushes Brown aside
Last week's Scottish Open hero Luca Brecel maintained his red-hot form with a stunning 4-1 rout of Jordan Brown.
Brecel has enjoyed a fine season so far, winning last week on the back of his run to the final of the UK Championship in York, and he looked in sublime touch once more on Wednesday.
The Belgian opened up with a typically silky run of exactly 100, before adding breaks of 57 and 88 as he surged into a 3-0 lead.
Brown did stop the rot when winning frame four, but Brecel knocked in his second century off the match moments later to set up last-16 meeting with Jimmy Robertson, a 4-2 victor over Matthew Selt.
