It was an eventful day in York yesterday, as the last 64 round was completed. There were a few more surprising results, the biggest surprise being the severe defeat of Judd Trump at the hands of Oliver Lines. Judd had withdrawn from Belfast to prepare for this and was supposed to be fresh. Obviously every player has days off and, they are only human, sometimes they are not feeling too well and won’t necessarily tell. But I certainly didn’t expect that result. Other players who fell at this stage are Liang Wenbo, beaten by young Yan Bingtao who is certainly become some kind of “menace” in the game, Martin Gould losing to the relatively unknown Mi Xiwen and Mark Davis dispatched by Jimmy Robertson, who of course is a heavy scorer on his day.
Then of course, Mark Allen made a 147 in the process of beating Rod Lawler in a match that was surprisingly fast considering Rod’s involvement.
Here are Worldsnooker official reports:
Sunday 27 Nov 2016 05:46PM
Ronnie O’Sullivan scored his second consecutive 6-0 victory at the Betway UK Championship, beating Rhys Clark to reach the last 32
The Rocket needed 56 minutes to win his opening round tie with Boonyarit Keattikun last week and this time he needed 17 minutes more to finish off his victim. Breaks of 112, 79, 82, 81 and 131 helped five-time UK champion O’Sullivan sail into round three, where he will face Michael Georgiou.
“Rhys is a good player and he looked nervous today, but it’s nerve racking for everybody,” said O’Sullivan, who hasn’t won a title since the Welsh Open last February. “If you think that I’m going out there totally relaxed then you’re mistaken. You need to have nerves out there, it’s who handles it best. That’s what you do as a professional, block everything out and concentrate on the job at hand.”
Magic Moment of the day came from Mark Allen as he made the first 147 of his career. The Pistol went on to beat Rod Lawler 6-4. “It’s good to get that monkey off my back, I was very nervous the whole way through the break,” said Allen. “I saw the 147 when I was on 16, the balls were sitting so nice. It puts you under it because you know they’re all sitting there and you’re expected to make it. If you miss you look like a bit of a tube.
“It’s big for me because I was one of the few top players who hadn’t made a 147. If you did a checklist when you turn pro it would be to win events, make your first century on TV, make a 147 and obviously go on to win a world title or be world number one. I’m sort of halfway through that checklist already.”
Ding Junhui came from 2-1 down to beat Ross Muir 6-2. “I had the feeling I controlled the match and also I had very good luck,” said Ding.
China’s Mei Xiwen saw off Martin Gould 6-3 while up-and-coming Yan Bingtao won a Chinese derby against Liang Wenbo by a 6-4 scoreline
Sunday 27 Nov 2016 10:35PM
Oliver Lines scored the best result of his career so far with a 6-2 victory over Judd Trump to reach the last 32 of the Betway UK Championship.
It has been a remarkable tournament so far for the Lines family as dad Peter knocked out Neil Robertson on his way to the third round and and now rising star Oliver, age 21, has taken a huge scalp himself. They have already earned £20,000 between them and that figure could rise dramatically if they can keep their runs going, with a semi-final meeting in prospect if they can each score three more wins.
Lines Jnr was voted Rookie of the Year after his debut season in 2014/15 and has perhaps not made as much progress as he had hoped since then, but tonight’s performance showed the true extent of the world number 61’s potential.
The Leeds cueman built a 3-0 lead with a top break of 62, then world number three Trump took the next two frames with runs of 72 and 60. Lines made an excellent 61 to go 4-2 up, then won frame seven on the colours before sealing victory in the next in three scoring visits.
“I had never really performed on TV before,” said Lines. “I have been practising very hard and I think my results will start coming in a roll. Me and dad will think about the semi-finals on the way home – it would be a dream if we could both get that far.”
Lines now meets Jimmy Robertson, who beat Mark Davis 6-2 in a Sussex derby.
Shaun Murphy fired breaks of 115 and 119 in a 6-3 win over Robin Hull while Marco Fu made a 125 in a 6-0 thrashing of Rory McLeod.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 