DEFENDING CHAMPION MARK Selby advanced to the last 16 at the Scottish Open with a 4-2 victory over Xiao Guodong in Llandudno.
The world number one was 3-0 ahead before Xiao made the most of multiple Selby errors to claim the next two frames.
However, Selby regained his composure to seal the sixth and set up a meeting with Anthony McGill, who bested Jimmy Robertson 4-3.
Ronnie O’Sullivan booked his last-16 place with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Liang Wenbo.
After falling 2-1 behind, O’Sullivan fought back with breaks of 95 and 131 to take a 3-2 lead, before Liang produced a 128 break to draw things level again.
Mark Selby has beaten Xiao Guodong 4-2 to reach the last 16 of the @BetVictor Scottish Open!
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) December 9, 2021
The Jester - hunting for a third consecutive title - faces Anthony McGill next #ScottishOpen pic.twitter.com/48nUci9ATh
Liang then had the first chance in the seventh frame but was unable to sustain things and O’Sullivan subsequently claimed victory with a break of 90.
That was after O’Sullivan’s comments from the previous day telling young children not to take up snooker were labelled a “disgrace” by John Higgins, who won his second-round match against Noppon Saengkham 4-1.
Others securing last-16 spots were Jamie Jones – who will face O’Sullivan in the next round – Stephen Maguire, Fergal O’Brien, Ben Woollaston and Luca Brecel.
As well as Higgins’s victory, the second-round action earlier on Wednesday included Judd Trump beating Craig Steadman 4-0, Shaun Murphy exiting with a 4-2 loss to China’s Li Hang, and Yan Bingtao being beaten 4-1 by Hammad Miah.
Ah cmon lads. How about a report on Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien who’s having an excellent tournament so far?
Who cares?
@Paul Owens: obviously not you. Loads of articles i dont be interested in, yet i never feel the need to tell people. You don’t want to read the snooker article then don’t. I would rarely read a cricket article for example as I’ve little interest in cricket. See how it works?
@Brian Dunne: No