Ken Doherty put friendship on hold long enough to book his spot in the last 16 of the China Open yesterday, with a 5-2 success against Michael Judge, his fellow Dubliner and regular practice partner. Judge, who has twice got the better of his more famous fellow countryman, led 2-1 but took a back seat in the remaining four frames as Doherty clicked up a gear, with breaks of 66, 113, 68 and 42.
“It's great to see Michael climb up the rankings but I didn't want him to do that at my expense,” said the 1997 world champion, after producing a strong finish. “It's always very difficult to play someone you know well from back home and Michael's a good mate,” added Doherty, who goes forward to face Englishman Paul Hunter.
Hunter joins Matthew Stevens in the last 16. World number six Stevens, who has had a disappointing start to the season by his own standards, produced a string of sizeable breaks during his 5-2 victory over Graeme Dott. But he was upstaged by Hunter, who needed only 70 minutes to whitewash Nottingham's Michael Holt 5-0. It was a case of role reversal, as in last season's China Open, Hunter was himself trounced 5-0 by Mark Williams, and managed to muster only 16 points into the bargain.
This time though, Hunter was in thoroughly dominant form as he outscored Holt 446-22. "I know how Michael must feel because exactly the same thing happened to me in Shanghai," said Hunter, who fired in breaks of 40 twice, 75, 120 and 66 on the way to the most overwhelming victory of his career. It was a welcome change for the former Regal Welsh Open champion, who apart from beating a local amateur in the wild card round of the Thailand Masters had never managed to win a match overseas.
Meanwhile, in today’s matches John Higgins, winner of the UK Championship only eight days ago, went out of the competition. He was beaten 5-2 by England’s Bradley Jones. Peter Ebdon, winner of the British Open in early October, had a 5-2 victory over David Gray. Ebdon was accompanied into the last 16 by Nigel Bond, who fought back from a 4-2 deficit to edge past world number 11 Anthony Hamilton 5-4.
Filed by Sinéad Gleeson
