2012 German Masters finalist Stephen Maguire booked his place in the last 64 of this season’s Berlin ranking event with a 5-1 qualifying victory over Rebecca Kenna at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.
The former UK champion lost 9-7 to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final 11 years ago at the Tempodrom, but has lost none of his scoring class with breaks of 51, 52 and 72 helping him book a trip to Germany next month (29 January-4 February) .
He was joined in the opening round at the finals venue by Iran’s leading player Hossein Vafaei, who rolled in a 72 break in a 5-0 whitewash win over former women’s world champion Mink Nutcharut.
2006 world champion and 2018 finalist Graeme Dott recovered from trailing Brazil’s Victor Sarkis 3-2 to complete a 5-3 win with the Scotsman compiling a 92 break in the third frame.
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‘What a finish’ – Wilson beats Zhou on a respotted black to reach Scottish Open final
Elsewhere, last week’s Scottish Open semi-finalist Zhou Yuelong edged out Crucible qualifier Jak Jones 5-4 in a high-scoring encounter.
Zhou trailed 2-0, but led 3-2 boosted by runs of 97, 59 and 104 with Jones producing two 125 breaks of his own to level at 4-4 before the former Northern Ireland finalist dominated the decider to reach the last 64.
And former British Open winner Ryan Day enjoyed a 5-3 victory over Stan Moody helped by a highest knock of 91.
Latest results
- Alexander Ursenbacher 5-0 Ma Hailong
- Zhou Yuelong 5-4 Jak Jones
- Chris Wakelin 5-3 Mohamed Ibrahim
- Mark Joyce 5-1 Wu Yize
- Hossein Vafaei 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
- Stephen Maguire 5-1 Rebecca Kenna
- Liam Highfield 3-5 Jimmy Robertson
- Mark Davis 5-2 Ashley Hugill
- Graeme Dott 5-3 Victor Sarkis
- Ryan Day 5-3 Stan Moody
- Anthony Hamilton 1-5 Ben Woollaston
- Liam Graham 2-5 David Lilley
