Barry Hawkins fired five century breaks as he stormed into a 7-1 lead over Shaun Murphy in the first session of their Sportsbet.io Tour Championship battle at Manchester Central.
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They resume at 7pm tonight with first to ten frames to go through to a quarter-final meeting with Judd Trump on Wednesday. Hawkins lost 6-4 to Murphy at the recent Sportsbet.io Players Championship but the four-time ranking event winner needs just three more frames tonight to gain revenge.
In a superb display, Hawkins slotted in breaks of 126, 101, 132, 131 and 134. Two more centuries tonight would equal the record for the most in a best-of-19 contest, set by Stephen Hendry who made seven tons during a 10-5 win over Ken Doherty in the final of the 1994 UK Championship. Hawkins also made a break of 79 in frame seven, while Murphy's only response was a run of 92 in frame three.
On the other table, Xiao Guodong came from 3-0 down to level at 4-4 with Wu Yize. Breaks of 85 and 72 helped give Wu the first three frames, before Xiao hit back to take three in a row, including the sixth on a respotted black. Wu recovered with a 75 to lead 4-3, only for Xiao to take the last of the session with a 77.
They resume on Tuesday at 1pm, with the winner to meet John Higgins in the quarter-finals on Wednesday and Thursday.