Ding Junhui shows century class to reach British Open last 64 with winning start to season against Oliver Lines

Ding Junhui showed his class as he finished with a brilliant 128 break to book his place in the British Open last 64 with a 4-2 win over Oliver Lines in Wigan.

A break of 51 in the opening frame helped him establish a 2-0 lead before world No. 59 Lines restored parity at 2-2 with timely contributions of 51 and 62.

It was the last points he would score in the contest as 2016 world finalist Ding unearthed knocks of 81 and 128 without response to book his place in the last-64 draw in Milton Keynes next month.

The British Open is the third ranking event of the season and will be staged at the Marshall Arena on September 26-October 2 with the world’s top 16 beginning their campaign at the Buckinghamshire venue.

China’s strong showing in qualifying continued elsewhere at the Robin Park Leisure Centre with Lu Ning edging out Turkish Masters finalist Matthew Selt 4-3, Lyu Haotian easing past Mark King 4-1, and Tian Pengfei a 4-2 winner against Sam Craigie.

Selt contributed 65, 122 and 53 in his match, but still came up short as Lu responded with 68, 97 and 79 before claiming a tense final frame.

Selt had a chance to claim victory, but missed the final blue attempting to gain position on the pink on the opposite cushion.

Lu responded with blue and pink enough to see out the win.

All matches are drawn at random and are contested over the best-of-seven frames with the quarter-finals increasing to the best-of-nine frames.

The semi-finals are the best of 11 frames with the best-of-19 frame final on Sunday, October 2.

Latest British Open qualifying results

• Ding Junhui 4-2 Oliver Lines
• Tian Pengfei 4-2 Sam Craigie
• Lu Ning 4-3 Matthew Selt
• Lyu Haotian 4-1 Mark King

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