European Masters snooker: Stuart Bingham and Hossein Vafaei reach European Masters last 64
Stuart Bingham booked his spot in the last 64 of the European Masters with a 5-2 qualifying win over Jamie Clarke in Leicester on Saturday.
The 2015 world champion will play his next match in event in the Germany city of Nuremberg, host of the season’s second ranking event between August 22-27.
He was joined in the second round by Iran’s ‘Prince of Persia’ Hossein Vafaei who completed his safe passage to the next stage courtesy of a 5-1 win against Rod Lawler at the Morningside Arena.
But three-time ranking event winner Marco Fu was edged out 5-4 in the first round by Adam Duffy, while last year’s Scottish Open finalist Joe O’Connor booked his trip to Germany with a 5-0 whitewash of Rebecca Kenna.
‘Extraordinary’ – Vafaei smashes into reds on break-off against O’Sullivan
Matches involving the top eight seeds – which include world champion Luca Brecel and world No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan – have been held over to the finals venue at the KIA Metropol Arena.
The rest of the opening-round matches were staged at the Morningside Arena between Tuesday and Saturday with several heavyweights from the world’s top 16 chasing a spot in the last 64 of the season’s second ranking event.
Kyren Wilson is defending the title he claimed with a 9-3 win over Barry Hawkins last year.
Saturday’s latest European Masters results
- Xu SI 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
- Joe O’Connor 5-0 Rebecca Kenna
- Dylan Emery 5-2 Barry Pinches
- Peng Yisong 5-3 Xing Zihao
- Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Rod Lawler
- Stuart Bingham 5-2 Jamie Clarke
- Lyu Haotian 5-4 Fan Zhengyi
- Adam Duffy 5-4 Marco Fu
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