Antrim man Mark Allen made light work of China’s Liu Hongyu to march into the last 32 of the Northern Ireland Open.
Allen enthralled the crowd at the Waterfront Hall with an impressive display that saw Liu dismissed 4-0.
The first frame with a tense affair, with Allen eventually coming out on top. The Northern Irishman potted beautifully in the second frame to go 2-0 up. Lui had chances in the third frame but eventually forced a concession, before strolling to victory in the fourth scoring 70 without reply.
Allen will now face the winner of Tuesday’s match between China’s Wu Yize and England’s Oliver Lines.
Also on Monday, Australia’s Neil Robertson defeat Scotland’s Graeme Dott 4-3, Tom Ford knocked out Malaysia’s Chuan Leong 4-2 and legend Jimmy White defeated Iran’s Hossein Vafaei 4-2.
White commended referee Kevin Dabrowski for his handling of his controversial match with Vafaei.
With White one frame away from victory, and trailing 65-57, Dabrowski called a foul on Vafaei who had the cue ball in hand, but was adjudged to have placed it marginally outside the D.
The referee and both players peered into a table-side camera to confirm the decision, which Dabrowski called “very obvious”, despite Vafaei’s protestations.
Meanwhile Anthony McGill beat Stephen Maguire 4-1 in an all-Scottish battle, with Barry Hawkins beating Matthew Stevens 4-2.
On Tuesday, World Champion Kyren Wilson plays David Grace, Mark Williams faces fellow Welshman Jamie Clarke and Ali Carter takes on Hailong Ma.