Antrim’s Mark Allen defeated China’s Si Jiahui at Alexandra Palace in the opening round of the Masters.
The left-hander made breaks of 111, 70, 94 and 80 in a 6-2 victory over Si, to set up a quarter-final clash with Mark Selby on Thursday.
“I played well there, I missed one or two shots in the whole game, I just felt like I got the better of the safety side of it,” Allen said after the match.
“He’s such a dangerous player, you need to keep it tight and I did that tonight.
“These are the events you want to play in, this is one of the biggest events in our calendar and probably the best area we play in in front of amazing fans.”
Looking ahead to Thursday’s quarter-final, Allen said: “It’s always a great game playing Mark.
“We’ve had some battles over the years and I expect more of the same.”