British Open snooker 2023: Jack Lisowski edges out Shaun Murphy on final black after epic battle, Barry Hawkins win
Jack Lisowski completed a magical 4-3 victory over Shaun Murphy in a high-quality battle in the last 64 of the British Open that was settled on the final black.
Lisowski produced 108 and 67 to move 2-0 clear before Murphy hit back strongly with runs of 111, 79 and 111 to lead 3-2 at the Centaur in Cheltenham.
With both players firmly in stroke, Lisowski forced the decider with a second century of the match in compiling 101, but a 62 break was not enough to help Murphy stagger over the winning line as his opponent finished with a clinical 63 clearance to seal the match by a solitary point aftter starting the break with a do-or-die long red.
Six-time ranking event finalist ‘Jackpot’ will meet Matthew Selt or Zak Surety in the third round on Wednesday afternoon.
In another top-16 match, European Masters champion Barry Hawkins also advanced with a 4-1 win against Robert Milkins, the Welsh Open holder, courtesy of breaks of 71, 53 and 85 with Milkins running in 70 in the third frame.
Hawkins was drawn to face the winner of UK champion Mark Allen or Kyren Wilson in the last 32 on Thursday afternoon with Allen chasing the title to take over from the absent Ronnie O’Sullivan at the top of the world rankings.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Matthew Stevens won the battle of the icons with a 4-3 win over evergreen Ken Doherty, 23 years after his 10-8 triumph against the Irishman in the 2000 Masters final.
Stevens trailed 3-1 with 1997 world champion Doherty rolling in 66 in the second frame, but breaks of 99 and a closing 70 saw Stevens progress without conceding a point in the final three frames.
He will meet another celebrated Irish professional Fergal O’Brien, the 1999 British Open champion, in the last 32 on Wednesday night.
British Open latest results (last 64)
- Jack Lisowski 4-3 Shaun Murphy
- Graeme Dott 4-2 Andy Hicks
- Matthew Stevens 4-3 Ken Doherty
- Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Wu Yize
- Barry Hawkins 4-1 Robert Milkins
- Julien Leclercq 4-0 Jamie Jones
- Si Jiahui 4-1 Neil Robertson
- Mark Williams 4-2 Stephen Maguire
- Scott Donaldson 4-0 Liam Graham
- Fergal O’Brien 4-2 Noppon Saengkham
- Hammad Miah 4-3 Judd Trump
- Hossein Vafaei 4-2 Oliver Brown
- David Gilbert 4-3 Lyu Haotian
- Yuan Sijun 4-0 Ben Mertens
- Oliver Lines 4-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Ma Hailong 4-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
- Ali Carter 4-0 Xu Si
- Xiao Guodong 4-0 Anthony Hamilton
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