Robbie Williams entertains at English Open but comes undone against Judd Trump

ByEurosport

Updated 17/10/2017 at 07:13 GMT

Robbie Williams often slips under the radar when it comes to snooker coverage, but the 30-year-old thoroughly entertained the fans at the English Open on Monday.

Robbie Williams

Image credit: Getty Images

An opening round match-up with Judd Trump was a tough draw for Williams, and two century breaks from Trump inside the opening three frames – including a superb 143 – hinted that the game may well be over before it had really begun.

But Williams had other ideas, breathing flesh onto the bones of the match with two big breaks in the fourth and fifth frames to take a shock 3-2 lead in the best of seven match.

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Needing just one frame to produce a huge shock, Williams moved to within touching distance of one of the biggest wins of his career.

Yet Trump had other ideas as he latched onto a chance in the sixth frame, and Williams was left to sit, wait and contemplate his fate as the World No.3 notched up breaks of 78 and 89 to rescue a 4-3 win.

[WATCH THE ENGLISH OPEN LIVE ON EUROSPORT]

John Higgins also survived a scare to beat Elliot Slessor 4-3 in Barnsley. The Scot was 3-2 down in the best-of-seven match, but produced a strong finish to knock out his 23-year-old opponent.

In other stand-out results on Monday, Mark Allen blitzed Jimmy White 4-0, Barry Hawkins overcame Peter Lines 4-2, and Stuart Bingham missed out on a chance of a maximum in a 4-0 win against Lee Walker.

English Open Results

John Higgins [4] 4-3 Elliot Slessor [77]
Kyren Wilson [15] 4-3 Rod Lawler [116]
Mark Joyce [46] 4-3 Yu Delu [48]
Xiao Guodong [39] 4-2 Wang Yuchen [83]
Li Yuan [118] 4-2 Jamie Curtis-Barrett [105]
Chen Zifan [96] 4-3 Sanderson Lam
Jack Lisowski [55] 4-0 Rory McLeod [45]
Mark Allen [11] 4-0 Jimmy White [107]
Li Hang [37] 4-2 Chris Wakelin [59]
Ian Preece [79] 4-0 Mei Xiwen [72]
Liang Wenbo [1] 4-1 Duane Jones [101]
Akani Songsermsawad [104] 4-2 Bolton
Aditya Mehta [78] 4-0 Sam Craigie [80]
Joe Swail [114] 4-3 Chris Totten
Matthew Stevens [52] 4-0 Eden Sharav [99]
Gary Wilson [57] 4-1 Sean O'Sullivan [109]
Judd Trump [5] 4-3 Robbie Williams [62]
Jimmy Robertson [34] 4-2 Adam Duffy [90]
Stuart Bingham [10] 4-0 Lee Walker [68]
Yan Bingtao [56] 4-0 Noppon Saengkham [64]
Barry Hawkins [8] 4-2 Peter Lines [98]
Allan Taylor [88] 4-3 David Lilley (a)
Zhang Anda [66] 4-3 Ian Burns [93]
Anthony McGill [16] 4-3 Michael Holt [25]
Fang Xiongman [84] 4-0 Joe O'Connor (a)
Tom Ford [32] 4-1 Xu Si [86]
Jamie Jones [44] 4-0 Basem Eltahhan

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