Snooker news - John Higgins and Judd Trump ease through to second round
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ByEurosport
Updated 16/10/2018 at 21:42 GMT
John Higgins eased into the second round of the English Open on Tuesday with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Li Yuan.
John Higgins retakes the lead! [6-5]
Image credit: Eurosport
Four-times world champion Higgins wasted no time on the main table in Crawley as he took the opening two frames.
Li responded with a fine break of 81 but Higgins kicked up a gear to make breaks of 75 and 88 to seal his progress to the next round.
It was a serene performance from Higgins who took just over an hour to make it through. He will face Nigel Bond in the second round.
After the match he opened up about his recent struggles for motivation in the new season, conceding the back-to-back defeats in the World Championship finals over the past two seasons - 18-15 to Mark Selby in 2017 and 18-16 to Mark Williams this year - has dampened his enthusiasm for the game.
"I've not really picked up a cue since Sheffield," said Higgins, who lost 10-9 to Mark Selby in the China Championship final last week. "I hate the game just now. I do. I think you get that in life.
I've lost two big finals at the Crucible, and I can't be bothered picking my cue up again, but obviously you've got to.
"I've not thought about packing it in. You go through spells like that. I'm sure I'll get over it."
Kyren Wilson, last season's English Open finalist, is out after suffering a 4-3 defeat to world number 66 Sunny Akani, who will face Anthony McGill in the last 64.
The Thai player watched Wilson open up with breaks of 53 and 88 before Akani produced an impeccable knock of 133 to trail 2-1.
A 51 was good enough to give Wilson a 3-1 lead, but Akani refused to buckle as a 78 and 62 saw him level at 3-3 before he scrambled over the line for a 4-3 victory.
Elsewhere, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made a maximum on his way to a 4-1 victory over Soheil Vahedi.
15th seed Stephen Maguire had to battle to avoid being the victim of an early upset as he came back from 3-2 down to overcome amateur James Cahill 4-3.
World number five Judd Trump dropped the first frame to Robin Hull, but dominated the next four to ease through boosted by breaks of 104 in the second frame and a 63 in the third.
In one of the closing matches of the first round, World Championship semi-finalist Barry Hawkins overwhelmed Peter Lines with a 4-0 win, making breaks of 72 and 50 to clinch a last-64 clash with Sam Craigie.
English Open first round results on Tuesday
- Stephen Maguire 4-3 James Cahill
- Fergal O'Brien 2-4 Jack Lisowski
- Mei Xiwen 4-3 James Wattana
- Luke Simmonds 0-4 Zhang Jiankang
- John Astley 1-4 Lukas Kleckers
- Soheil Vahedi 1-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Thor Chuan Leong 4-1 Hamza Akbar
- Zhang Anda 3-4 Matthew Selt
- Jimmy White 4-2 Lyu Haotian
- Sam Baird 4-2 Liam Highfield
- Lee Walker v Jak Jones
- Rod Lawler 0-4 Sam Craigie
- Lu Ning 2-4 Robert Milkins
- Elliot Slessor 4-2 Sean O'Sullivan
- John Higgins 4-1 Li Yuan
- Mark Allen 4-2 Anthony Hamilton
- Ricky Walden 4-2 Hammad Miah
- Alexander Ursenbacher 4-1 Kishan Hirani
- Kyren Wilson 3-4 Akani Songsermsawad
- Stuart Bingham 4-0 v Duane Jones
- Judd Trump 4-1 Robin Hull
- Luca Brecel 4-0 Niu Zhuang
- Gerard Greene 3-4 David Gilbert
- Farakh Ajaib 1-4 Yuan SiJun
- Harvey Chandler 1-4 Noppon Saengkham
- Xiao Guodong 2-4 Steven Hallworth
- Andrew Higginson 2-4 Jordan Brown
- Paul Davison 3-4 Zhou Yuelong
- Xu Si 4-2 Chris Totten
- Judd Trump 4-1 Robin Hull
- Jimmy Robertson 4-1 Michael Holt
- Barry Hawkins 4-0 Peter Lines
- Ashley Carty 2-0 Mark King
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