Big Guns Fire In Yushan
Ding Junhui, Judd Trump, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson all scored impressive wins at the Hong Rui Ma Yushan World Open on Tuesday evening to reach the third round.
It’s a strong line up in the last 32 in Yushan with 11 of the world’s top 16 still challenging for the £150,000 top prize at the second ranking event of the season.
Home favourite Ding had to recover from 2-0 and 3-1 down to beat up-and-coming Chinese teenager Yuan Sijun 5-3. Breaks of 86, 87 and 115 helped Ding overturn the deficit.
“Yuan played really well in the first half of the match,” said defending champion Ding, who now meets Robert Milkins. “After that he didn’t take his chances and he lost the advantage. I didn’t change my strategy when I was 3-1 down, I just tried to play my own game. After the interval I was a lot better.”
Trump, who hasn’t won a ranking title for ten months, looked in fine form as he beat Martin O’Donnell 5-1 with breaks of 54, 84, 54 and 73.
Robertson, aiming for back-to-back ranking titles having won the Riga Masters last month, fired runs of 132, 69 and 114 as he beat Andy Lee 5-1. And World Champion Williams also won 5-1, beating Alexander Ursenbacher with top breaks of 52, 61, 104 and 60.
China’s Yan Bingtao stormed to a 5-0 win over Stuart Carrington with runs of 59, 87 and 50. Michael Holt, celebrating his 40th birthday, made a 128 in a 5-3 win over Mark Davis.