Zhao Xintong continued his flying start to the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship qualifiers with a 6-2 victory over Jiang Jun, moving within two wins of a place in the final stages in York.
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China's Zhao, who lifted this trophy in 2021, beat Sunny Akani in his first match on Saturday, making a break of 146 which set the target for the £15,000 high break prize. And he followed up today by beating Jiang in just 94 minutes, firing runs of 92, 85, 98, 50, 115 and 77. Zhao faces Noppon Saengkham next on Tuesday afternoon, and victory would put him into Judgement Day with places in York at stake.
Jimmy White's dream of making it to York ended as the veteran went down 6-4 to Ross Muir, who made breaks of 103 and 125. Matthew Stevens, the 2003 champion, pulled away from 4-4 to beat Manasawin Phetmalaikul 6-4.
Marco Fu, runner-up in 2008, saw off Amir Sarkhosh 6-1 with breaks of 62, 53, 108, 50, 80 and 66. Poland's tour rookie Antoni Kowalski beat Anthony Hamilton 6-3 with a top run of 91, while China's He Guoqiang made 100, 99, 91, 102 and 86 during a 6-1 defeat of Robbie McGuigan.
Aaron Hill made a vital 57 in the decider to beat Ka Wai Cheung 6-5, while Julien Leclercq came from 4-3 down to beat former World Champion Grame Dott 6-4 with a top run of 106.
Round three in Leicester gets underway on Monday evening.