China Open - Day 2

Jimmy White played in his first ranking tournament of the
season but was beaten 5-3 by Judd Trump

Mark Selby excelled in Tuesday afternoon’s session of the China Open as he cruised to a 5-1 victory over Li Hang. The tournament’s highest break so far, a 139 in the penultimate frame, provided the icing on the cake for the man from Leicester as he booked his place in the second round. Scotland’s Stephen Maguire also recorded a dominant victory over Kent’s Barry Hawkins, again by a 5-1 scoreline.

The two remaining wildcard round matches were also decided in the afternoon as Jin Long caused an upset against Fergal O’Brien in a match that lasted almost four hours. The match reached a decider which the Chinese won in comfort with a break of 63. Rory McLeod however, had no problems in progressing through his wildcard match with a 5-0 whitewashing of Zhou Yeulong.

It was experience v youth in the evening session as snooker’s rising start Judd Trump faced the legend Jimmy White. Trump was 3-1 up at the interval but the 50-year-old White closed the gap to 4-3 by winning the sixth and seventh frames but Trump won the eight frame to secure victory.

Meanwhile Ding Junhui recorded an incredible comeback against Ben Woolaston as he came from 4 frames down to win 5-4. Woolaston was excellent before the interval and fully deserved his lead but the break came at the wrong time for him and Ding, who was well supported by the legions of home fans, produced a great response to win five frames on the bounce.

Meanwhile Graeme Dott won 5-2 against Mark King and will play an in form Stephen Lee in the second round after he defeated Tom Ford 5-1.