Yorkshireman Paul Hunter whitewashed former world champion Ken Doherty to storm into the quarter-finals of the £311,000 China Open. Hunter required only an hour to hammer Doherty 5-0 and then declared: “I'm sure I can win any tournament I enter.”
In the previous round Hunter took 70 minutes to thrash Michael Holt 5-0, his opponent scrambling together only 22 points. Hunter, in the doldrums since winning the 1997 Regal Welsh Open as a 19-year-old, maintained that superb form to leave Doherty with no answers. “I can't complain can I?” said Hunter. “I was really short of confidence last season but know I'm back to where I was two or three years ago. If I win one title I'm sure that more will follow because I've done it before and I've got the ability to do it again.”
World number 14 Hunter was entitled to be in upbeat mood. He immediately signalled his intent with a well-constructed 90 break in the first frame and then took the one-sided contest with runs of 62, 64, 73, 63 and, to close proceedings, 101. “Paul was so good it was frightening,” said Doherty. “You're supposed to be disappointed when you lose, and I am, but I can't be too hard on myself because I didn't do that much wrong.”
Hunter goes forward to tackle Welshman Dominic Dale or defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. In a scrappy, slow-moving contest of much lower quality, which dragged on for over three hours, Alan McManus became the villain of the piece as he registered a 5-3 victory over local hero Marco Fu. Fu, a 22-year-old from Hong Kong, stole the first frame by knocking in difficult pots on green, brown, blue and pink.
He held McManus to 2-2 at the mid-session interval but ultimately his uncharacteristic lack of scoring power proved an insurmountable handicap. McManus, whose last world ranking title came at the 1996 Thailand Open, joked: “I won't be popular after this. But it's obviously a good win. Playing Marco over here, where he feels at home, isn't easy but I knew he was under a lot of pressure. He made some basic mistakes and I knew if I kept things tight I could finish off the job.” McManus progresses to meet fellow Scot Stephen Hendry or Peter Ebdon, winner of the British Open two months ago.
Filed by Sinéad Gleeson
