Ding Eases Past Miah

Ding Junhui safely negotiated his opening match at the Yushan World Open, defeating Hammad Miah 5-1.

Ding is making his second ranking appearance of the season this week. He will be looking to improve on his recent showing at the China Championship, where he suffered a surprise 5-0 exit at the hands of 1994 Masters Champion Alan McManus.

The 12-time ranking event winner enjoyed a routine victory this afternoon, clinching the tie in just over 90 minutes. He compiled breaks of 64, 70 and 54 on the way.

Ding remarked: “I felt alright today and my opponent gave me more than enough chances, so I took a big lead. I tried hard to win the last couple of frames and made it difficult for him to turn the match around.”

Neil Robertson also recorded a 5-1 victory, beating Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham.

The pair’s last meeting came earlier this year at the World Championship, where Robertson also ran out a comfortable winner. The Thunder from Down Under stormed to today’s victory with breaks of 50, 79, 100, 68 and 103.

Ricky Walden continued his quest to return to form with a 5-1 win over Andrew Higginson.

The 34-year-old has been struggling with spinal injury problems, but received a steroid injection last month to rectify the issue. There has been cause for optimism following a run to the last 16 at last week’s Indian Open.

Recent China Championship winner Luca Brecel put on a fine display to dispatch Mike Dunn 5-1. The Belgian composed breaks of 58, 60, 62, 97 and 105 on his way to the win.

David Gilbert encountered a sterner test in his 5-4 defeat of China’s Tian Pengfei. The world number 21 was 3-1 and 4-3 down but battled back to win.

For full results click here.