The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Scotland’s success sends Higgins ‘boogying’ into second round
Smiling John Higgins cruised into the second round of the Northern Ireland Open with a 4- 0 win over Daniel Wells in Milton Keynes last night.
And Scotland’s four-time world champion put his performance down to the lift given by the scenes of jubilation after Scotland’s football team secured a place at the Euro 2020 finals last week with the play-off win in Serbia.
Higgins took control of his opening match with a break of 144 in the second frame to go 2-0 up. And he sealed the whitewash with breaks of 51 and 54 in the next two frames.
Higgins told Eurosport: “I was certainly boogying tonight out there, absolutely delighted.
“It’s just down to all the boys winning last Thursday, all the Scottish boys.
“I’ve got the biggest smile possible and it’s all down to them.”
Stephen Maguire also advanced with a 4-2 win
over Malta’s Alex Borg late on Monday but three other Scots bowed out during yesterday’s play.
Alan M cM an us was beaten 4-2 by Barry Hawlins, Graeme Dott lost 4-2 to Brazil ’s Igor Figueiredo and Eden Sharav was whitewashed by Ding Junhui, who made breaks of 72, 62 and 100.
Mark Selby marched on with a 4-1 victory over Andrew Higginson but Mark King slipped to a 4-2 defeat by Zak Surety.
Former world champion Neil Robertson was given a walkover when Antrim amateur Declan Lavery was forced to withdraw after testing positive for coronavirus.
La very, one of two amateurs handed wild cards for the event, tested positive upon his arrival at the venue.
Laver y is the second player to pull out of the event after testing positive, after Riley Parsons – due to face Scot Anthony McGill – pulled out prior to travelling to the tournament on Monday.
Perth’s Scott Donaldson is back in action this afternoon when he faces China’s Xu Si in a second round match after Monday’s win over Sean Maddocks.