Speedy Selby into third round
O’CONNOR ALSO WINS BUT ROCKET CRASHES OUT
MARK SELBY was a man in a hurry at the UK Championship and revelled in outpacing a stunned Ronnie O’Sullivan after booking his place in round three, writes Will Jennings of Sportsbeat.
The Jester from Leicester breezed past world No.60 Liam Highfield 6-1 while rival O’Sullivan, a record seven-time UK champion, slumped to a shock 6-5 defeat against Switzerland’s Alexander Ursenbacher.
Selby is renowned for his polarised playing style to the Rocket and was relieved to get the job done while his rival was locked in a thriller.
Asked about requiring under three hours to dispose of Highfield compared to O’Sullivan’s 11-frame epic, the 37-year-old said: “It probably doesn’t happen that often.
“It’s nice to come out winning as well, and obviously finishing early and not putting myself through the mill and it’s a 6-4 or 6-5 decider.
“I’m happy to come through and with the way I played overall.
“Going into the match I thought it was quite a tough game – Liam’s a good player, I’ve played him a few times and he always seems to play okay against
me.
“I’m happy with the way I played and when I got
my chance, more times than not I seemed to take it.”
On the state of the Marshall Arena table, he said: “I think they’re playing nice.
“The first round I played on the same table and it played nice, and that was exactly the same. I’ve got no complaints with the table.”
World No.5 Selby, who won the event in 2012 and 2016, struck breaks of 95, 75 and 69 in Milton Keynes to down a deflated Highfield and keep his hopes of a hattrick alive.
He will meet world No.36 Hossein Vafaei in the last 32 – a man who took the 18-time ranking event winner to the brink at last month’s English Open before Selby prevailed 4-3.
Selby knows he faces a stern test in round three but says he’s up for the fight against the talented Iranian.
“It’s another tough game – Hossein’s a great player and I played him a few times,” he said.
“He’s a fantastic talent, a great cueist and very, very dangerous, so I’ll need to be on my game to win that one.
“I’m looking forward to it the way I’m playing.”
City player Joe O’Connor was also in second round action and stunned world No.15 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3.
O’Connor delivered a brilliant performance as five half-century breaks propelled him into the last 32 for the second time in his career.
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