ICE COOL THORN‘S ON TRACK

ROBERT THORNTON is living on his nerves after a second straight last-leg shootout launched him into the Unibet Grand Prix quarter-finals.

The Ayrshire ace dazzled Dublin again last night with a brilliant win over Dave Chisnall.

Thornton showed class and guts to storm into the last eight and stay on course for a repeat of his title triumph in Ireland two years ago.

In the first round, the Scotsman saw off Kim Huybrechts in a deciding leg. And last night Thornton again held his composure as Chisnall missed five darts to win – then couldn’t get a double in six to start the decider as the 2015 champ proved tough as teak.

Thornton said: “I thought I’d blown it. I had to dig deep.”

He breezed through the first set with a whitewash but Chisnall roared back to go 2-1 up before Thornton levelled to force a fifth set.

And he added: “It was just lucky for me Chizzy missed and then took six darts to start the final leg.

“The pressure is absolutely massive. This game kills people. A lot of us find it hard to hit a double to win a leg let alone start with a double as well.

“It’s a big win for me. The memories I have from being in this tournament are special and I just want to keep it going this year.” JOHN HIGGINS stormed into round two of snooker’s European Masters in Belgium with a 4-0 win over Swiss Alexander Ursenbacher.

The four-times world champ sank two centuries and two 50-plus breaks in his victory.

Fellow Scot Anthony McGill edged Northern Ireland’s Joe Swail 4-3, Graeme Dott beat Jamie Clarke of Wales 4-2 but Eden Sharav is out after a 4-1 loss to England’s Alfie Burden.