Paul Hunter, who has been battling against cancer, returned to action at the Travis Perkins UK Championship in York today as the big names entered the fray. He trails Jamie Burnett 5-3.
Grand Prix champion John Higgins continued the superb form he had shown in Preston by knocking in breaks of 114 and 85 to take a 6-2 lead against Gerard Greene.
Peter Ebdon and Dominic Dale also produced some high-quality fare as they ended their first stint level at 4-4, the Welshman impressing with contributions of 138 and 133.
It was also all square in the two other matches between Ken Doherty and Marco Fu, and the last of the first-round encounters in which Nigel Bond took on Dave Harold.
