Iulian Boiko
Iulian Boiko continued his strong start to the season as he came from 2-0 down to beat Stan Moody 5-2 in the second qualifying round of the Shenzhen Open.
Ukraine’s 20-year-old Boiko meets Yuan Sijun in the final round on today with the winner to go through to the final stages in China in September.
Boiko won two matches in China Open qualifying last month and topped his first group in the Championship League, and has another two victories under his belt this week. Having whitewashed Phil O’Kane 5-0 in the first round, he recovered from the loss of the first two frames against Moody to reel off five in a row with top breaks of 59 and 54.
Fan Zhengyi fired runs of 63, 119, 73 and 69 in a 5-1 defeat of Jimmy White, while Marco Fu knocked in breaks of 124, 117 and 60 to win a Hong Kong derby against Onyee Ng 5-1.
Antoni Kowalski top scored with 121 in a 5-0 win over Fergal Quinn, while Chatchapong Nasa took the deciding frame on the final blue to beat Sahil Nayyar 5-4.
China’s promising Deng Haohui top scored with 71 in a 5-3 win over Tom Ford. Ben Mertens made breaks of 64, 120, 62 and 86 as he beat Matthew Stevens 5-1.
