Ireland's David Morris ended the dream run of Sheffield amateur Mitchell Travis with a 6-1 third round win at the UK Championship in York.
Morris only reached the tour this season after an 11th-hour entry into qualifying school — where he beat Travis in the final — but a guaranteed £12,000 prize from a fourth round appearance will boost his surge up the money list.
The Kilkenny man, who had breaks of 71 and 76, said: “He’d had a couple of good wins and he’s dangerous when he’s like that, but I scored well when I had chances and I think experience was the difference on the day.”
Even defeat could not dent Travis’s good feeling, as the man who eliminated seventh seed Marco Fu reflected happily on his experience at York’s Barbican Centre.
“I’m disappointed but overjoyed with my performances all week,” he said. “It’s nice to put my name out there. I’m still over the moon, still buzzing.”
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen saw off Michael Holt.
The 12th seed led 3-0 and 5-3 but was pegged back on each occasion, Holt making a 103 to set up a decider. But Allen, who had earlier fired a 113 break, made 56 to get over the line.
“It was a good match without being a classic for scoring,” Allen said. “It was tense. That was good because it got the adrenaline pumping, which hasn’t been there the first couple of rounds.”
Dubliner Fergal O’Brien fell foul of China’s Ding Junhui, who won 6-1 in the afternoon session to maintain his push for a fourth successive ranking title.
After struggling with his cue-ball control in the first two rounds, Ding was happier with conditions today.
“The side table has a new cloth put on so I felt better, more confident in the black-ball area,” he said.
Ding won this title in 2005 and 2009 and is on pace to repeat the four-year cycle, but continuing his current hot streak would mean more to the world number three.
Stephen Hendry was the last player to win four ranking titles consecutively and Ding said: “That’s the legend, no-one has done that since he did it so... I’ll try!”
Reigning world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan played down his hopes of sweeping to a fifth title despite beating Scotland’s Marcus Campbell.
The ‘Rocket’ struggled before the mid-session interval and lost frame two in unusual fashion, a long battle on the black ending when the Londoner failed to make contact with it. The players went in locked at 2-2 but O’Sullivan played much better thereafter, breaks of 108, 100 and 54 seeing him to a 6-2 victory.
O’Sullivan said: “There’s still a long way to go — hopefully! There are so many good players in this event. The danger is everyone thinking me, Ding and Neil are the hot favourites. I believe the winner could come from someone who’s just about coming into form now.
“I’m not writing myself off, otherwise there’s no point being here, I might as well pack up and throw a sicknote in. And I’m not writing off Ding’s or Neil’s chances, I’m just saying that the guys who have maybe not been getting the results, it’s probably only a matter of time before they have their good spell.”
Defending champion Mark Selby had a straightforward afternoon, dispatching Grimsby's Stuart Carrington 6-0. After a scrappy start, successive breaks of 69 and a 96 saw Selby through to a clash with Graeme Dott.
“I didn’t really perform great but I finished the match off well,” the Leicester player said. “Playing Graeme tomorrow, I can’t get off to a start like that. I’ve played him quite a few times and we’ve always had close games and gruelling matches, I’m sure tomorrow will be no different.”
Mark Williams’s Masters hopes were ended by Ricky Walden in a topsy-turvy game. Walden came from 3-1 down to lead 5-3, only for Williams to level again at 5-5. A closing 137 from Walden, though, secured a 6-5 win.
