Aaron Hill
Cork’s Aaron Hill booked his place in the final stages of the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast with a narrow 4-3 defeat of Ross Muir in the second qualifying round.
Hill has made a strong start to the current season, notably reaching the quarter-finals of the recent British Open, and the 24-year-old can now look forward to an appearance at the Waterfront Hall next month. He top scored with 79 in building a 3-1 lead, then was hauled back to 3-3 before getting the better of a 46-minute decider.
Jimmy White’s hopes of a place in Belfast were ended by a 4-2 defeat against China’s Xu Si, whose top break was 92.
Liam Davies maintained his excellent recent form in a 4-1 win over Fan Zhengyi, while Ben Mertens top scored with 77 in a 4-0 thrashing of Iulian Boiko.
Poland’s Mateusz Baranowski scored an impressive 4-1 win over Yuan Sijun, while tour rookie Wang Xinbo top scored with 102 in 4-1 defeat of David Lilley.
The qualifiers finish later today, with the final stages to run from October 18-25.
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND RESULTS
Huang Jiahao (Chn) bt Liu Hongyu (Chn) 4-2
Anthony McGill (Sco) bt Yang Liu (Chn) 4-1
Wang Xinbo (Chn) bt David Lilley (Eng) 4-1
Mateusz Baranowski (Pol) bt Yuan Sijun (Chn) 4-1
Liam Davies (Wal) bt Fan Zhengyi (Chn) 4-1
Ben Mertens (Ger) bt Julian Boiko (Ukr) 4-0
Aaron Hill (Ire) bt Ross Muir (Sco) 4-3
Alfie Burden (Eng) bt JImmy Robertson (Eng) 4-1
Matthew Selt (Eng) bt Antoni Kowalski (Pol) 4-0
Sam Craigie (Eng) bt Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Ind) 4-1
Louis Heathcote (Eng) bt Lyu Haotian (Chn) 4-2
Xu Si (Chn) bt JImmy White (Eng) 4-2
Matthew Stevens (Wal) bt Marco Fu (Hkg) 4-1
He Guoqiang (Chn) bt Zhao Hanyang (Chn) 4-3
Jamie Jones (Wal) bt Xu Yichen (Chn) 4-2
Rickey Walden (Eng) bt Ian Burns (Eng) 4-3
