The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Higgins begins bid to go one better at Scottish Open in Glasgow
Last year's beaten finalist aiming to go one better this time
John Higgins opened his bid for the Dafabet Scottish Open title yesterday with a 4-1 win over Jack Lisowski at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
The Wishaw star, beaten in the final last year by Marco Fu, put his surprise UK Championship loss to Mark King behind him to ease through.
A fluked brown helped world No 38 Lisowski claim the opener but the Scot made three half-century breaks as he reeled off the next four frames to progress to the second round.
Stephen Maguire shrugged off his UK Championship semi-defeat to eventual champion Ronnie O’Sullivan with a convincing 4-0 success against Alex Borg, racking up breaks of 60 and 95, while Judd Trump also advanced by the same scoreline in his first round match with Robin Hull.
Fu began the defence of his title in emphatic fashion after a comfortable 4-0 victory over Duane Jones.
The world No 9, who came from 4-1 down to defeat Higgins 9-4 last year, edged past his Welsh opponent in the opening three frames before sealing his win with a wonderful 101 break.
World No 7 Barry Hawkins was among the first round casualties following a 4-2 defeat to Jamie Jones, while 2006 world champion Graeme Dott also lost by the same scoreline to Rory McLeod.
Martin Gould fell to a final-frame defeat to Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham.
O’Sullivan, who admits he sees the sport as a fundamental part of his life again, begins his campaign against Michael Georgiou this afternoon.
“It keeps me on the straight and narrow,” he said.
“If I wasn’t playing snooker I’d probably be a little bit off the rails, enjoying myself, all that sort of stuff. As long as I play snooker it reels me in a bit, so I’ll keep playing so it keeps me out of trouble.
“I don’t practise as much as I probably used to or feel like I should, but it seems to be working and I’ll keep showing up and being a nuisance.”