Wuxi Classic Day 1

Robert Milkins negotiated his wildcard match against Chen
Feilong to set up a first round match against Andrew Higginson
on Wednesday

The season’s ranking event curtain raiser got underway on with the start of the wildcard and first round matches, at the Wuxi Classic.

For the eight lowest ranked qualifiers, the wildcard round loomed with the first six taking place on Monday, and there were a couple of casualties at the hands of the Chinese amateur players. Firstly, in the afternoon session, Stoke’s Nigel Bond fell short against Rouzi Maimaiti, losing 5-1, then in the evening, Michael Holt was also dumped out of the competition, at the hands of 16-year-old talent, Zhu Yinghui, by the same scoreline.

For others though, the wildcard round was successfully negotiated, one man being Jamie Burnett who won a war of attrition over Jin Long, winning 5-3.  A lengthy 54 minute opener saw Long win the frame on a re-spotted black, however Scotland’s Burnett won three on the bounce to hold a 3-1 advantage at the interval. Long squared things up by winning the next two but Burnett reached the finishing post first by winning the next two frames. Q-School qualifier Rod Lawler kept up his fantastic run of form of late, by securing his position in the first round by defeating Li Hang. Lawler won four on the bounce although a mini-fight back from Hang saw him close to 4-2, but Lawler secured the match by winning the seventh.

In the evening’s wild card matches, Robert Milkins and Fergal O’Brien both progressed to the main draw with wins over their respective Chinese opponents. Milkins defeated Chen Feilong 5-2 to set up a tie with Andrew Higginson later in the week. Meanwhile Ireland’s O’Brien set up a tie with World Championship semi-finalist Ali Carter with another 5-2 win, over teenager Lu Haotian.

Also during the evening session, the first round kicked off as Mark Selby defeated Barry Hawkins. Dartford man Hawkins won the first but Selby hit back with three on the bounce, including a break of 120 in frame three, to lead at the interval. Hawkins closed the gap to 3-2 but the defending champion of the Wuxi Classic hit breaks of 101 and 88 to advance to the last 16.