Dornbirn Wins For Higgins, Ding And Robertson
Top stars John Higgins, Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson all enjoyed comfortable wins on day one of the BetVictor European Masters to reach the last 16.
It’s the first ever world ranking event in Austria, in the city of Dornbirn at the foot of the Eastern Alps. The tournament runs until Sunday with a top prize of £80,000 up for grabs.
Higgins battled to a 5-2 win over Fergal O’Brien though he made a top break of just 44 and admitted that consistency in his game is missing.
“Maybe when you get to this age you’re going to have good days, bad days and different days,” said Scotland’s 44-year-old Higgins. “I’m resigned to that fact. The good games are still a good standard but the bad games can be really brutal.
“The World Championship has maybe masked over a lot of things because when you get to three consecutive finals you think you’re close again. But then when you come to some tournaments and play poorly you realise you’re a million miles away again. I’m trying to correct it and when I come to a tournament I still have aspirations of winning it.”
Higgins now faces Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who scored a 5-2 win over Robbie Williams. Thailand’s Un-Nooh established a marker for the £5,000 high break prize with a 146 in the sixth frame, taking a pink from the first red and then blacks from the other 14. He sealed the result in the next with a 124.
Thunder Back To Winning Ways
Robertson is yet to reach the quarter-finals of a ranking event this season but will do so if he beats Graeme Dott on Thursday. Today he saw off Lyu Haotian 5-2 with top breaks of 71, 100 and 110.
“I felt I played really well and I’m pleased not to come all this way and lose,” said Robertson. “I’ve got a day now to go out and explore a bit because I’ve never been to Austria before.”
At the Masters last week, Robertson squandered a 5-1 lead as he lost 6-5 to Stephen Maguire, but has put that result behind him. “Those kind of matches happen, “said the Australian. “If it happened in my first season I might have been traumatised but I have now won and lost matches like that, it’s part and parcel of the game. It’s not as if I threw the match away, Stephen played very well.
“It was disappointing because it’s such a big event, but the good thing about the tour now is that you are straight back into another tournament so I took a couple of days off then I was back on the practice table.”
Round-up
UK Champion Ding looked sharp in a 5-0 defeat of Robert Milkins. After taking a scrappy first frame on the colours, Ding stepped up a gear with runs of 54, 81, 78 and 73 in taking the last four frames. He now meets Scott Donaldson or Kyren Wilson.
Masters runner-up Ali Carter came from 2-0 down to beat Tian Pengfei 5-3 with a top break of 58. Dott made a 104 as he beat Liang Wenbo 5-3, while Michael Holt top scored with 130 in a 5-0 whitewash of Daniel Wells.