It’s all ablurforMuirashescrapesthroughinBelfast

Ross Muir shrugged off a dramatic mystery ailment to take his place in the second round of the Dafabet Northern Ireland Open in Belfast last night.

The Scot seemed in a good place leading Thor Chuan Leong 2-1 when blurriness suddenly struck in his right eye, an unfortunate blow to his mo- mentum that didn’t leave throughout the game.

That initially knocked Muir for six but, after taking time to compose himself, he edged his way back in front at 3-2.

The Malaysian forced a scrappy deciding frame lasting more than half an hour but it was Muir who triumphed 4-3.

“Just to get through feels great, it was pretty bad and I completely butchered some shots but once I got over the shock I was just about there,” he said.

Eden Sharav admits he is struggling to see where his next win will come from after slipping out of the event.

The Scot was on the wrong end of a 4-3 thriller with Finland’s Robin Hull, missing out in a decider despite having numerous chances to take victory throughout the match. The pair each registered breaks of 60 in the opening two frames, though Sharav never held the advantage before falling in the bestof-seven encounter.

But, as a man completely bereft of confidence, he was far from surprised his shortcomings were on display in the Waterfront Hall.

The world number 99 has not tasted victory since late September and, with the UK championships next on the agenda in just a few days, form will certainly have to be recovered sooner rather than later.

“At 2-2 I had a couple of chances to go 3-2 ahead and not been able to capitalise on that, so that was a big moment in the match,” he said.

“In really short matches you can’t afford to make any unforced errors.”

• Watch the Northern Ireland Open live on Eurosport 1 and Quest, featuring daily studio analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.

“I completely butcheredsome shotsbutthen recovered”