UK Championship 2021 - Jack Lisowski survives sloppy encounter, Luca Brecel secures another commanding win
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Updated 02/12/2021 at 16:35 GMT
Lisowski, who has been struggling with a cold, produced some stunning long-potting interspersed with a series of errors to keep Hossein Vafaei in an encounter in which the Iranian rarely found his cueing flow. The Englishman will face Zhao Xintong in the last eight. Luca Brecel, meanwhile, thrashed Anthony Hamilton to set up a quarter-final meeting with Anthony McGill.
Jack Lisowski | Snooker | ESP Player Feature
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Jack Lisowski survived a sloppy encounter with Hossein Vafaei to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2021 UK Championship.
The 30-year-old, often mentioned as one of snooker's talents yet to fulfil his great potential, secured a 6-4 victory to set up a last eight meeting with Zhao Xintong.
In the afternoon session's other match, Luca Brecel continued his excellent form with another commanding performance against Anthony Hamilton.
Brecel had thrashed Stephen Maguire 6-0 in the previous round and had limited trouble disposing of Hamilton 6-1 in similarly strong fashion.
Affairs were more hard-fought on the other table, with neither Lisowski or Vafaei able to regularly convert scoring chances into frame-winning breaks.
Having struggled with the flu in the build up to the last-16 encounter, Lisowski produced some particularly fine long-potting but struggled for consistency in York.
He began well, requiring a couple of visits to the table but keeping the Iranian scoreless on his way to the opening frame.
Vafaei was able to level proceedings, missing a cannon on a group of reds having compiled an untidy 57, but able to return to the table soon after and secure the second frame.
A fluke snooker appeared to put the Englishman in pole position to re-take the lead, but an error afford Vafaei another chance to build a break.
The Iranian was yet to find his accuracy positionally, though, salvaging several loose shots with fine pots before finally paying for an error again in the fifties.
The loose play became contagious and each player would squander another frame sealing opportunity, before Lisowski was finally able to snatch it after Vafaei missed a reasonably straight forward brown.
That gave Lisowski a confidence boost ahead of the final frame of the first half of the session, and the 30-year-old made the encounter's first telling break, racing to 82 while on course for a break of 140.
A miss ended his chances of the first century of the match but the frame and a 3-1 mid-session interval lead had already been secured.
Lisowski was again amongst the balls after the interval but could not make a strong start count, allowing Vafaei in with the balls dispersed invitingly.
The Iranian duly took advantage with his second century of the tournament, making 115 to move back to within a frame of his opponent.
'Jackpot' again settled into his groove, though, with a break of 88 widening his margin once more.
Yet normal service soon resumed with a sloppy seventh frame, Vafaei first running out of position having completed a three-ball plant to the left corner, before Lisowski missed a tough red to the middle, with the Iranian this time able to leave him needing three snookers, which Lisowski was unable to force.
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An outstanding selection of long pots allowed the Englishman to move within a frame of victory with a break of 72.
Vafaei was able to stay in the contest by stealing the ninth frame but an untimely kick ended a nascent break a frame later for the Iranian.
A remarkable back and forth followed, with the two players trading errors before Lisowski eventually left Vafaei requiring snookers and only pink and black on the table, with Vafaei unable to manipulate the two balls into position to stay alive in the clash.
It sets up an intriguing clash of talented left-handers in the last eight, with Lisowski taking on Zhao on Friday for a place in the semi-finals.
Lisowski fell to Chinese opposition in Zhou Yuelong at the same stage of last year's tournament.
Meanwhile, Brecel continued his remarkable UK Championship form with a convincing win over Hamilton.
Having swept aside eighth seed Maguire without the concession of a single frame in the previous round, Brecel picked up where he had left off as he surged into an early lead.
The Belgian swiftly secured the opening two frames and survived a closer run third.
He added a twelfth successive frame in the tournament to close a perfect first mini-session and head back to the dressing room 4-0 up.
Hamilton was finally able to get on the board in the first frame after the interval, but Brecel put together a break in excess of fifty to move a frame away from the last eight.
'The Belgian Bullet' duly moved into a quarter-final meeting with Anthony McGill, edging a back-and-forth eighth frame to seal another with Hamilton apparently struggling with an optical issue.
Showing signs of somewhere near his best form, Brecel has reached the last eight in York for the first time in five years.
"It felt good today," Brecel told Eurosport afterwards. "I played some good stuff in the beginning and I had to keep things tight at the end.
"It would be nice to get to the semis - I don't want it to end here. Anthony is a very clever player. There is going to be a lot of pressure on both of us, so we will see."
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