John Higgins eases past Mark King to reach English Open third round, Kyren Wilson, Ali Carter advance

John Higgins looked in good form as he beat Mark King 4-1 to reach the third round of the English Open.

Last year’s runner-up made breaks of 62, 85 and 103 to ease through at the Brentwood Centre in Essex.

But Higgins, who will next face Robert Milkins, said he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his display.

“Feeling good but still missing some crucial balls and running out position too many times,” he said on Eurosport.

“Mark didn’t punish me tonight, he missed a few chances and let me off the hook.”

Higgins, 47, has never won the English Open but came close last year when he led Neil Robertson 7-5 and 8-6 in the final before losing 9-8.

The Scot made light work of King, looking in decent touch from the start as he fired in two good reds in the opening frame and cleaned up with a break of 85.

The second frame could have gone either way.

King spurned a couple of opportunities but looked set to level when he doubled the final red. However, King missed the yellow into its own pocket and Higgins took advantage.

It was more of the same in the next frame as King had an opening with a mid-range red at 33-0 behind.

He missed and Higgins pulled away to move 3-0 ahead.

Higgins was without touching distance of victory at 62-6 in the fourth frame, only to snooker himself behind the black. He fouled and King potted an excellent long red that was the start of a frame-winning clearance.

But Higgins didn’t make the same mistake again, getting home with a 62 break to seal his place in the next round.

Mark Allen made a tournament-high 141 break as he won 4-1 against Dylan Emery.

Allen also knocked in a 135 break and two half-century breaks on his way to victory.

Kyren Wilson eased through with a 4-0 victory over Ben Woollaston and Ali Carter won by the same scoreline against Chen Zifan.

Defending champion Robertson survived a big scare as he was pegged back to 3-3 by Lei Peifan, who reeled off three successive 120-plus breaks.

But Robertson held his nerve in the decider to come out on top.

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