In-form Ding Junhui moved comfortably into the next round of the BetVictor Scottish Open at Edinburgh’s Meadowbank with a 4-1 win over English cueman Jenson Kendrick and the match showed the fine line between success and failure.
The world No 11, who lost to world No 1, Ronnie O’Sullivan, in the final of the UK Championship in York last week, took his opportunities. Kendrick, sadly, did not.
Junhui won the first frame against the world ranked No 113 by 80-16 with a break of 66.
However, Kendrick, who turned professional at the start of the 2022/23 season after earning a two-year tour card after defeating Haydon Pinhey 4-1 in the final round of the third 2022 Q School event, shrugged off that disappointment.
He bounced back with a break of 70 in the next, winning it 73-29, but Chinese player Junhui, the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport, upped a gear and fastened onto any mistake made by the 22-year-old Englishman to take the next three frames.
A 73 break polished off frame three with a score of 77-0 and a superb break of 115 secured frame four 117-0 and Junhui skillfully worked his way around the table to win the fifth 73-29 after a long yellow.
Top Scottish hope John Higgins beat Oliver Brown 4-0 after edging the first frame 69-68 but Brown failed to trouble the man nicknamed the Wishaw Wizzard after that.
Higgins, the world No 3, won the next three frames with breaks of 69, 74 and 82 for scores of 91-14, 74-18 and 82-6 and he in at the table tonight againsty He Guoqiang (19.00).
Also in action is 61-year-old Jimmy White, who has won four seniors world titles. and he goes in against Jimmy Robertson, a former European Masters winner, at 20.00.
Welsh cueman Matthew Stevens, who has won two of the game’s Triple Crown events, the Masters and UK Championship, is on against Mark Selby, ranked world No 1 on a number of occasions, at the same time.
Luca Brecel (pictured), the world snooker champion, was in action this afternoon and he edged James Cahill 4-3 after twice coming from behind and securing a 100-plus break in the final frame.
Blackpool-born Cahill, who turned professional in 2013, started well with a break of 64 in the first for a 76-0 scoreline but the world champion hit back to edge the second 68-53 despite a break of 53 from Cahill.
A 127 break in the third with his opponent failing to score put the Belgian ahead but the Englishman, who is ranked No 72 in the world, levelled with a 62-53 victory in the next despite a 53 break from Brecel.
Cahill, whose best ranking finish was a last 16 place, went ahead again in the fifth, winning it 55-43 but Brecel kept his nerve to level at 3-3 in the sixth, winning it 53-46 then he unleashed a sensational break of 133 in the seventh to secure a passport to the next round.
If you are thinking about popping along on Wednesday, the current holder of the title, Gary Wilson, is on duty at 10am against Xing Zihao while last season’s beaten finalist, Joe O’Connor, goes in against 29-year-old Scott Donaldson from Perth – nicknamed The Perth Potting Machine – who is currently ranked No 50 and has been a semi-finalist in a ranking tournament four times.
Other scores: Sanderson Lam 4, Cao Yupeng 1; Liu Hongyu 4, Zal Surety 0; Lyu Haotian 4, Jackson Page 0; Pang Junxu 4, Xu Si 1; Lukas Kleckers 1, Noppon Saengkham 4; Ricky Walden 4, Alexander Ursenbacher 3.
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