HIGHFIELD FOCUSED ON BUSINESS ON THE BAIZE
LIAM Highfield believes reprioritising his snooker is reaping rewards after booking his place in the second round of the English Open.
The Stoke-based potter beat Mitchell Mann 4-1 at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena in the first Home Nations event of the season.
The world number 63 has sought to broaden his horizons in recent times, possessing keen interests in fashion and running and training for the Liverpool Marathon earlier this year.
Coronavirus thwarted those plans but with snooker now the number one priority, Highfield reckons a shift in mentality can propel him to glory.
“I played well and scored really heavily - the table was playing really nicely and I was happy with the way I played,” said the 29-year-old.
“Because of everything that’s gone on the marathon was cancelled - I still ran through lockdown as it was the only thing you could do, but no marathons, no half marathons and nothing going on.
“I’m concentrating on the snooker as it’s the only thing to do! I’ve been doing bits of running, but nothing too major.
“I’m just trying to stay fit and healthy and get my head down with the snooker as basically there’s nothing else to do as you can’t go out or do anything!
“Hopefully we can repeat what I was going to do and run a marathon when everything kicks back up - if it ever does - but we’ll see.
“Everything in my life has narrowed - I’ve been back in the club practising and while I haven’t practiced that much in the last week, I’ve been playing really well and practiced six days a week.”
Highfield sparkled under the Marshall Arena lights, striking a brilliant secondframe break of 128 to floor Mann in style.
And that century was supplemented by further efforts of 99, 74 and 63 as Highfield started his week in style.
Highfield has never reached the semifinals of a ranking event and is targeting
a third appearance in the third round of a tournament in two seasons.
It would be in front of no fans if he got there - but Highfield says behind closed doors snooker suits him just fine.
“I’m all good with being here - it’s about whatever it takes to play snooker and for the tournaments to go ahead, whatever they have to do,” he added.
“I feel safe and I’m not one to get paranoid about anything, so it is what it is.”
Stoke’s Brandon Sargeant was also in first round action, but slipped to a 4-3 defeat against Lei Peifan.
Chinese player Peifan made a secondframe break of 81 and that proved too much for world number 92 Sargeant, who will be hoping to improve as the Home Nations Series continues throughout the season.
· WATCH the snooker English Open tournament live on Eurosport, Eurosport app and Quest