Northern Ireland Open snooker 2020 – John Higgins hits highest break of tournament

ByEurosport

Updated 17/11/2020 at 22:50 GMT

John Higgins hit the highest break of the tournament so far after Ding Junhui eased past Eden Sharav to make the second-round stage of the Northern Ireland Open at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

John Higgins

Image credit: Getty Images

John Higgins was in sparkling form on Tuesday evening as he hammered Daniel Wells 4-0, a rout that included a break of 144, the highest of the tournament so far.

After taking a relatively tense opening frame Higgins started to flex his muscles.

The Scotsman rolled in breaks of 144, 51 and 54 as he completed the whitewash and restricted his opponent to just nine points in the final three frames.

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Higgins knocks in fantastic 144 break against Wells

After the match a smiling Higgins joined Andy Goldstein and Alan McManus in the Eurosport studio and explained his excellent form.

"I was certainly boogying tonight out there, absolutely delighted," said Higgins.

"It's just down to all the boys winning last Thursday, all the Scottish boys.

I've got the biggest smile possible and it's all down to them.

"Listen, I know what I've said before but what's been happening to the whole world you've just got to try and get on with it.

"Take every day and tournament as it comes, come down and enjoy it as best you can."

Elsewhere in the evening sessions there were comfortable wins for Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham as they beat Anthony Hamilton and Oliver Lines 4-0 and 4-1 respectively.

Allen was in particularly scintillating form as he knocked in two centuries against Hamilton.

The Northern Irishman will face Robert Milkins in the next round whilst Bingham is up against Zhao Jianbo.

MORNING/AFTERNOON SESSION REPORT

Ding Junhui secured a first-ever win at the Northern Ireland Open, whitewashing 4-0 Eden Sharav at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

UK Championship winner Ding had failed to progress past the first round in his two previous tilts at the Alex Higgins trophy in 2016 and 2019, but made light work of Sharav, courtesy of runs of 72, 62 and 100.

World number 72 Sharav has enjoyed success at the Northern Ireland Open before, compiling his highest break – a 142 – on his way to the semi-final stage in 2018.

The match between Ding and Sharav was promoted to the match table after Neil Robertson received a bye after opponent Declan Lavery tested positive for Covid-19, and while the 28-year-old Sharav produced flashes of excellence – namely a fine snooker in frame three – his inconsistency never threatened Ding, who finished with a ton – his fifth of the season – to seal his progression.

'Look at that for a shot!' - Sharav plays tremendous snooker against Ding

"I feel good. It was a quick match," said Ding in the Eurosport studio after the match. "I put myself in the game as quickly as possible.

"My form is good, but it's not good enough, I feel. I still need more from safeties and break building. The level is not the same as the UK Championship [win] so I need to try hard."

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Eurosport pundit Ronnie O'Sullivan was impressed with Ding's performance.

"Ding always plays the positional game better than anybody. Steve Davis was as close as Ding was; perfect positional play and good pots. He looks comfortable.

Elsewhere, Tom Ford emerged from a high-scoring encounter with Lee Walker to make the second round. Walker put together runs of 60 and 122 but it was Ford, behind breaks of 82 and 57, who set up a second-round encounter with Yuan Sijun or Luo Honghao.

The second big name through on Tuesday was three-time world champion Mark Selby progressing after beating Andrew Higginson 4-1.

Selby hit a break of 93 as he made it through and held off a couple of late battles from his opponent. Selby will face Lukas Kleckers in the next round.

“In and out, felt okay throughout the match." Selby told Eurosport afterwards.

"Few loose shots here and there but Andrew didn’t play like he can play and let me off the hook in a couple of frames.”