International Championship - Day 3

Aditya Mehta caused a big upset, defeating a recently in-form
Stuart Bingham 6-4.

The surprises continued at the International Championship with Stuart Bingham tasting defeat to Aditya Mehta. Bingham, who had impressed massively during last week’s Premier League matches winning both games 6-0, struggled in the early stages and found himself 4-0 down at the interval. However he fought back to also win four frames on the bounce to square the scores but the Indian won the next two to ensure the 6-4 victory.

Earlier in the day, Mark Davis also outclassed his higher-ranked opponent to beat Mark Williams 6-4. Davis was quick out of the blocks taking the first three frames but Williams managed to stop the rot by taking the fourth. The two frames after the interval before Davis snatched the seventh to go 5-2 ahead. The Welshman looked to set up a comeback by winning the next two but Davis knocked in a fantastic tournament-high break of 138 to wrap up the match.

A strong start from Stephen Maguire saw him enjoy a 6-3 victory over compatriot Jamie Burnett. Maguire took all four frames before the break and although Burnett cut the lead back to 4-2 and 5-3, Stephen won the ninth to secure the win. Marco Fu needed a final-frame decider to overcome Martin Gould as he edged to a 6-5 win. Mark Allen set up a last grudge-match with Cao Yupeng after he cruised to a 6-2 victory over Robert Milkins. At the World Championship earlier this year, Allen accused Cao of not owning up to a foul in a match he later went onto lose.

In the evening session’s other games, Judd Trump secured a 6-3 win over Fergal O’Brien. Trump had led 4-1 after the first five although his Irish opponent closed the scores to 5-3 but an error on the final pink in frame nine gifted Trump the easiest chance to claim victory. Elsewhere, local favourite Ding Junhui defeated Zhou Yuelong 6-1 and Ricky Walden overcame Lu Ning 6-4.