Ding And Bingham Start Well In Shanghai
Stuart Bingham now plays Mike Dunn
Defending champion Stuart Bingham and home favourite Ding Junhui both enjoyed convincing first round wins at the Bank of Communications OTO Shanghai Masters on Tuesday.
World Champion Bingham saw off promising Chinese wild card Fang Xiongman 5-2 with top breaks of 65 and 97.
“I’m happy to win because it was a tough game,” said Bingham. “I’ve played that lad before in an Asian Tour event and he’s obviously been practising non-stop.
“I remember the first time I came to Shanghai I felt the conditions here would suit my game. To eventually win here last year was a great honour and a big stepping stone towards winning the world title. There is more pressure on me to perform now as I’m World Champion. It’s nice to come back here with good memories of my win last year. No one has defended this title before so hopefully I’ll be the first.”
Ding Junhui won this event two years ago
China’s Ding cruised to a 5-1 win over Alan McManus with top runs of 66, 104 and 74.
“I was playing well in general,” said 11-time ranking event winner Ding. “I’m not feeling pressure really. I’ve won a lot and lost a lot over the years so I just try to enjoy it a bit more.”
As for his next match against Ryan Day, Ding joked: “I’ve won this tournament before so he might as well be trembling.”
Judd Trump meets Matthew Selt next
Judd Trump needed just 60 minutes to end the challenge of Robert Milkins, winning 5-0 with breaks of 53, 74, 122 and 62.
“Robert missed an easy black in the first frame, after that I played solid and didn’t miss much,” said Trump, runner-up here in 2012. “It’s nice to win a match and if I can keep playing like that I’ll have a chance. Shanghai is my favourite city in China, I get a lot of support and there are plenty of places to visit.”
Michael Holt built on his impressive early season form with a 5-1 win over Stephen Maguire, top scoring with 101, 91 and 68.
Mike Dunn came from 2-1 down to beat Hong Kong’s Marco Fu 5-3 with a top break of 68.
In the wild card round, Jamie Cope beat Lin Shuai 5-2, Tom Ford saw off Amateur Masters winner Han Bin 5-2 and Kyren Wilson eased to a 5-1 success over Wang Yuchen.