British Open snooker 2021: Ricky Walden ends John Higgins' bid for record fifth title, last-16 draw

ByEurosport

Updated 20/08/2021 at 17:03 GMT

Ricky Walden hit back from losing the first frame to overcome John Higgins in a 3-1 victory that ended the Scotsman's quest for a record fifth British Open title at the last-32 stage at Leicester's Morningside Arena. The four-times world champion won the event the last time it was staged with a 9-6 win over Stephen Maguire in 2004.

Ricky Walden punished John Higgins for missing several obvious scoring chances to end the Scotsman's quest for a record fifth British Open title in a 3-1 win at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.

Higgins won the opener with a break of 51, but was never at his best as the three-times ranking event winner Walden reeled off the next three frames – including a break of 62 in the second frame – as his opponent failed to control the white ball in style that saw him make a 147 break in the opening round of a 3-1 win over Alexander Ursenbacher.

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The draw for the last 16 on Friday night was made immediately afterwards with Walden handed a meeting with Scottish amateur Ross Muir.

Ali Carter defeated world champion Mark Selby 3-0 on Thursday evening and faces Elliot Slessor after his surprise 3-2 win over Judd Trump, who relinquished his number one ranking to Mark Selby with defeat.

The two-times world finalist Carter lost the first frame to Oliver Lines, but won the next three boosted by 68 and a closing 69 in a 3-1 success.

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Three-times world champion Mark Williams will face Zhang Jiankang in the last 16 after he completed a 3-0 win over Liam Highfield boosted by runs of 71 and 70 in the first two frames.

British Open last-16 draw

• Jimmy Robertson v Stephen Maguire
• David Gilbert v Hammad Miah
• Ali Carter v Elliot Slessor
• Ricky Walden v Ross Muir
• Lu Ning v Lukas Kleckers
• Zhang Jiankang v Mark Williams
• Joe O'Connor v Zhou Yuelong
• Hossein Vafaei v Gary Wilson

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