Alan McManus has reached the last 16 of the Regal Scottish Open after defeating Ulsterman Patrick Wallace in an epic battle. The world number 15 from Glasgow won through 5-4 after four hours and 31 minutes, including a 64-minute deciding frame.
"It was a horrible match and I expected it to be slow," said McManus, who will not be bogged down in his next game against Ronnie O'Sullivan.
"It will be a different game against Ronnie, thank God," added the 32-year-old, who has lost form after finishing runner-up to Chris Small in the LG Cup final last October.
Earlier today Paul Hunter lost his opening match in a ranking tournament for the first time in nearly 12 months tonight as Mark Selby scored a notable 5-3 victory over him in the Regal Scottish Open. The match swung away from Hunter, who led 2-0, in the seventh frame after the duo shared the opening six frames.
World number 53 Selby first came to the fore last season when he reached the semi-finals of the China Open, defeating Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan along the way.
"Beating Paul is up with there with those wins because he's one of the best players in the world. And after this victory hopefully I can go on and have a good run."
Also through is Welshman Matthew Stevens who defeated Thailand's James Wattana 5-3 in a game when he was never behind and is now desperate to recapture the form that took him to World and UK finals just a couple of years ago. "James had a chance to make it 4-4 so it's just nice to get through," said the 25-year-old from Carmarthen.
Filed by Johnny Proby
