Aaron Hill was close to top form as he booked his place in the last 32 of the Northern Ireland Open this afternoon.
The 23-year-old beat Lei Peifan 4-1 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, knocking in two centuries in the last three frames as he saw off a player who started the season 14 places ahead of him in the world rankings.
It was a slow start for the Cork man, who missed a straightforward green early in the first before going on to lose the frame.
He quickly regrouped however, reeling of four frames on the spin to make it to the last 32.
"It was great to play like that in front of my home fans," he told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"A good crowd stuck around to watch me and all my family are there [and] to throw in a good performance, it always makes it a little bit sweeter.
"I forgot about the green once I was back in my chair and just focused on the next shot, one ball at a time. When I can do that, you can remain in the zone then and nothing really distracts you.
"I was really pleased with how I responded from 1-0 down. It was near enough a perfect performance.
"Hopefully, I can turn those last 16s and quarterfinals into semi-finals and trophies. It's what I work for, it's what I believe I can do.
"I feel like it's coming for a long time, these consistent results. But I won't take them for granted because this game can humble you quite easy."
"Other players are saying, 'no 147s today!'"
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) October 20, 2025
Aaron Hill knocked in two centuries as he won his opening round match at the Northern Ireland Open
Report: https://t.co/NZlc8DsH2Z #RTESport #Snooker #NIOpen pic.twitter.com/np6kXIXJ0P
In April, Hill missed out on a spot at the World Championships by one frame, losing a decider in the qualifiers against Dave Gilbert. It was all the more heartbreaking given that he had led 9-7, but just couldn't find the frame he needed to reach the Crucible.
Hill has tried to turn the crushing loss into a positive, and it looks to have had the desired result on the table, having already made a quarter-final this season, as well as two rounds of 16, pushing him up to 23 in the one-year ranking list.
Last month, he became the first player from the Republic to hit a maximum 147 break, only to repeat the trick 23 days later.
"My dream as a kid is to be where I am today and playing in the Crucible," Hill said. "To be one frame away from it, I turn it into a positive; I'm not that far away from one of my biggest dreams.
"Of course, I hurt at the time, but I'm sure I'll be back next year with a fighting chance.
On achieving the maximum break twice, he added: "It's a great buzz. I'm after picking up good recognition on the tour now.
"Every player that passes me is saying, 'no 147s today?!'. So it's a good name to have and long may it last.
"It's a great feeling to make them because it's a dream of mine to make a 147 on the tour. To make two in such a short space of time is brilliant."
Elsewhere today, Elliot Slessor, Yuan Sijun and Zhou Yuelong all advanced, as well Hill's next opponent Barry Hawkins, who beat Zak Surety 4-0.
Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy has continued his excellent recent run.
Murphy reached the last two ranking finals, winning the British Open before losing out to history-maker Mark Williams in Xi'an.
"I've been playing really well of late and I'm delighted," he told RTÉ Sport.
"I've come to one of my favourite venues, one of my favourite events on the tour and it looks like I've brought my form with me."
The 2005 world champion has been working with Peter Ebdon for the last year and has turned a corner, after briefly dropping out of the world's top 16 before his recent return to form.
"When I got the call to say, 'you're right on the cusp of losing your 16 spot here,' I thought, 'I hadn't seen that coming.', Murphy admitted.
"I wouldn't be a big studier of ranking lists and probably took my 16 spot for granted. But the rankings don't tell lies and you're ranked where you are because that's what you deserve.
"I fell out very, very briefly and managed to put that right. The last few weeks have been the fruits of lots of hard work, lots of hard practice.
"Since I teamed up with Peter Ebdon nearly a year ago, we've really upped the work rate, we've upped my effort.
"We've upped the effort I'm putting in between tournaments and at tournaments, not just on the match table, but in the practice rooms backstage that no one sees.
"And it seems to be working."
