Stephen Maguire gained a measure of revenge for his recent UK Championship defeat to Jimmy White with a comfortable 4-0 win in the British Open first round in Leicester.
After setting the tone with an opening 135, Maguire edged the second frame on the final black before a 60 break in the third frame was followed by a dominant display in the fourth frame.
The former UK champion joins 47 other qualifiers in the second round of the tournament that sees the top 16 in the world play their opening matches at the finals venue in Cheltenham next month.
Elsewhere on Saturday, former world and Masters holder Stuart Bingham made a highest break of only 68 during a 4-0 victory over John Astley, while Thai speed merchant Thepchaiya Un-Nooh took just 49 minutes to complete a 4-0 win over Reanne Evans, the 12-time women’s world champion, that saw him compile 60, 73, 69 and 64.
In an open FA Cup-style draw, world champion Luca Brecel has landed Ding Junhui, while Mark Allen and Anthony McGill collide in another intriguing contest between two players inside the top 16.
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World No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan – the British Open champion in 1994 – was paired with former European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson.
The matches are the best-of-seven frames with the quarter-finals increasing to the best-of-nine, before two best-of-11 frame semi-finals and a best-of-19 frame final.
British Open latest first-round scores
- Stephen Maguire 4-0 Jimmy White
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-0 Reanne Evans
- Stuart Bingham 4-0 John Astley
- Julien Leclercq 4-0 Dean Young
- Matthew Selt 4-0 Liam Highfield
- Xiao Guodong 4-2 Marco Fu
- Jamie Jones 4-0 Mostafa Dorgham
- Fan Zhengyi 4-3 Mark Davis
