Former World champion Stuart Bingham of England showed his class to move past Matthew Selt 4-1 and enter the pre-quarterfinals of the fourth Indian Open world-ranking snooker tournament at the Novotel Hotel here on Thursday.
Bingham, producing impressive runs of 68 and 67 in the fourth and fifth frames when his potting skills came to the fore, Bingham ensured he would be a major threat for the other contenders.
“I was feeling very good and comfortable with my overall game. There is no doubt he (opponent) has improved a lot in the recent past and could have made it two-all, but he missed a couple of chances,” said Bingham.
Another former world champion, Ken Doherty of Ireland, staged a remarkable comeback to prevail 4-3 against a spirited Sam Baird of England.
Earlier, the higher-rated Mark King of England defeated 2006 world champion Graeme Dott of Scotland 4-1.
Another former World champion Shaun Murphy of England was in brilliant form, notching up two century-breaks to outclass Fergal O’Brien of Ireland 4-1 and move into the knock-out phase.
The results: Shaun Murphy (Eng) bt Fergal O’Brien (Iri) 58-50, 103(97)-8, 48-71(51), 125 (125)-0, 105(105)-0; Stuart Bingham (Eng) bt Matthew Selt (Eng) 65-0, 66(65)-29, 32-94(94), 80(68)-49, 68(67)-0; Hossein Vafaei (Irn) bt Gerard Greene (Eng) 18-84, 69-40, 13-69, 98(58)-0, 79(52)-1, 83(64)-0; Zhang Anda (Chn) bt Tian Pengfei (Chn) 7-73, 43-70, 88(61)-23, 103-43, 71-38, 78-36; Mark King (Eng) bt Graeme Dott (Sco) 63-2, 0-104(58), 64-4, 74(74)-14, 64-21; Ricky Walden (Eng) bt Ben Woollaston (Eng) 77(71)-54, 53-72, 61(61)-56(56), 91(91)-0, 33-75(55), 63-31.
