World champion John Higgins took a step closer to reaching the semi-finals of this week's Malta Cup tonight with a welcome win over last season's runner-up Ryan Day.
The Scottish potter impressed with a 4-2 victory over Welshman Day in his second group qualifying match on the Mediterranean island.
The victory means Higgins heads Group One with two wins from two outings at the Hilton Conference Centre in Portomaso.
If the world number one wins his third group match tomorrow against Tiptree cueman Ali Carter, then he would be well placed to make it through to the knockout stages of this year's week-long tournament.
‘I've not had the best of seasons, so it's nice to get a few games under my belt in Malta,’ said Higgins.
‘I've been trying a few things with my technique, but the standard is so high these days that it's all on the day that matters.’
Higgins pocketed a 48 break to edge 1-0 ahead, which he followed with runs of 46, 50 and 56 for a healthy 3-0 lead.
It could have easily been 4-0 to the Wishaw-based professional, but his opponent - runner-up at this season's Shanghai Masters - pinched the frame on the final black ball.
But Higgins made sure of his second win thanks to a run of 62 in the next frame.
Day did win the last frame, but it is Higgins who is in pole position after day two of this year's £76,000 event, with the eventual winner set to walk away with £20,000.
In the second evening match Carter dominated his match against Maltese wildcard Alex Borg.
Whitewashed 6-0 by Higgins in his opening match, Borg did manage to win a frame courtesy of a composed 69 break, but that came after Carter had powered into a 5-0 lead.
Carter was in superb form and a break of 129 saw him win the opener, before runs of 63, 59, 46 and 39 made sure of victory in his first match of the tournament.
Earlier former world champion Graeme Dott and former UK champion Ding Junhui had to settle for a point each after a 3-3 draw.
Ding always led thanks to breaks of 127, 50 and 96, but every time the youngster got ahead, Glaswegian Dott rallied to level. Breaks of 40, 64 and 67 helped the cause.
Welshman Dominic Dale made it two successive victories after he beat compatriot Mark Williams, the two-time world champion, 4-2 in Group Four.
Dale fought back from 2-0 down to beat Dott in his opening match - and this season's Shanghai Masters champion again impressed with breaks of 48, 61, 68 and 39, while Williams had runs of 48 and 53.
