Welsh Open 2024: John Higgins continues record-extending title bid, Mark Allen hits 600th century to progress
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Updated 13/02/2024 at 23:54 GMT
John Higgins took another step towards a sixth Welsh Open title after a 4-1 victory against Tian Pengfei. Higgins, who is the most decorated player in the tournament’s history, dispatched the Chinese player in Llandudno in a relatively close encounter. Elsewhere, Mark Allen knocked in his 600th career century in a whitewashing of Ma Hailong to join Higgins in the third round.
'It'll add five, six, seven good years' - O'Sullivan on why Higgins trying new things will help
John Higgins continued his record-extending bid for a sixth Welsh Open title following a 4-1 second round victory over Tian Pengfei.
In a replay of their 2023 clash which Tian won 4-1 in the last 16 of the same tournament, Higgins got off to a better start to take the opening frame.
Following a cagey start, Higgins finally knocked in his first red 15 minutes into the match and followed it up with the black, as he started to get into his rhythm where he put together a break of 48.
With Tian trailing by 59 points and with a possible 56 on the table, he could not take advantage when he returned to the baize as Higgins drilled an authoritative red across the table before sinking the yellow to move 1-0 ahead.
Higgins continued his tidy form in the second frame and knocked in a break of 54 to put himself in position to double his lead. Although he was in control of the frame, Tian had moments to seize a comeback and just as Higgins looked to seal the deal, could not roll in a red.
Tian missed a tough green to the left centre and Higgins opted against potting yellow to leave his opponent in another snooker as the frame began to get scrappy. Higgins worked his way out of a snooker before Tian conceded a safety blunder, which the 48-year-old was able to take advantage of as he cleared up the yellow, green and brown for a 2-0 lead.
Higgins looked to run away with the match in the third frame but could only put a run together worth 37 before he was forced into a safety shot, having failed to open the reds off the black. But then it was all about Tian, after Higgins’ nightmare trying to get out of a snooker, the Chinese player managed a break of 51 to wrap up the frame 76-37 and close the deficit to one.
Tian tried to take the momentum into the fourth frame, but a long attempt at a red was well off the potting angle and Higgins was in place for another worthy run. He put up 32, but again, struggled to see out a frame-winning break.
Tian made a critical mistake when he missed the reds trying to run safely off one from a distance, and Higgins did not need a second invitation to put the frame to bed to restore his 3-1 advantage.
In another tightly-fought frame, Tian equalled the match-high break of 54, but Higgins hit back and struck the decisive blow to knock in a terrific clearance. He rolled in the brown to yellow pocket before sinking a tricky blue, pink and black consecutively for the win in five frames.
Higgins will play home player Ryan Day for a spot in the quarter-finals, who knocked out David Lilley by a 4-2 scoreline.
Mark Allen hit his 600th career century to join Higgins in the third round following a routine 4-0 win against world No. 102 Ma Hailong.
It took 41 minutes, but Allen finally sealed the first frame 63-36 to take an early lead. The table was messy throughout the opener and Allen cleared up to the final three reds but narrowly missed a long red in what would have been a breathtaking frame ball.
Ma needed three snookers and managed to get two to cut the lead from 45 points to 19, but some superb snooker from Allen saw Ma miss the blue, which Allen holed seconds later to cap off the opening frame.
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‘We were here to see it’ - Allen makes 600th career century in stylish fashion
The 20-year-old player from China then made a big error with a miss on the blue in the second frame to gift Allen a 2-0 advantage.
The world No. 3 sealed a career landmark in the third frame, knocking in century number 600 as he produced a break of 141 to move to within a frame of victory.
Allen finished just as strongly and wrapped up the match with a 58 break, which means he will take on Si Jiahui in the next round.
Elsewhere, Jack Lisowski beat Liam Pullen 4-2, while Fan Zhengyi overcame Ben Mertens by the same scoreline.
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