UK Championship snooker – Marco Fu hits two centuries to advance, Xu records magical 147 break, Mink defeat
Marco Fu hit two sparkling centuries to reach the third round of UK Championship qualifying with a 6-4 win against rising Belgian talent Ben Mertens on Sunday.
The three-time ranking event winner followed up his 6-5 victory against Michael Holt in the first round in Leicester with runs of 90, 51, 104, 116 and 78 after Mertens had restored parity at 4-4 with 50, 128 and 84 of his own.
Fu will meet Ricky Walden on Monday night chasing two more wins to reach the last 32 at the York Barbican.
Elsewhere, Xu Si hit a magnificent 147 in the second frame of a 6-1 drubbing of Ma Hailong, the 193rd of the modern era since 1982, amid breaks of 65, 56, 70 and 85 with Ma preventing the whitewash courtesy of a 60 in the sixth frame.
Xu next meets Lyu Haotian on Tuesday morning needing two more victories to book his trip to York.
But he is also in line to pick up the £15,000 high-break prize at the UK.
Former German Masters champion Martin Gould booked his spot in the third round with a 6-0 whitewash win against Stuart Carrington.
Gould rolled in two breaks of 62 and 52 to secure a meeting with former European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi on Monday evening.
Former women’s world champion Mink Nutcharut lost 6-5 to Michael White in a taut final frame settled on the penultimate ball.
Mink missed a pink to right-centre needing pink and black to seal victory before White held his nerve to roll in the pink to the green bag as he claimed the final four frames from 5-2 behind.
The Welshman will face World Championship semi-finalist Si Jiahui in the third round on Monday night.
UK Championship first round: latest results
- David Grace 6-5 Ryan Davies
- Michael White 6-5 Mink Nutcharut
- Andy Hicks 6-4 Mohamed Ibrahim
- James Cahill 6-2 Xing Zihao
- Marco Fu 6-4 Ben Mertens
- Daniel Wells 6-2 Ashley Carty
- Martin Gould 6-0 Stuart Carrington
- Robbie Williams 6-1 Jenson Kendrick
- Craig Steadman 6-3 Andres Petrov
- Hammad Miah 6-3 Bulcsu Revesz
- Andy Lee 6-2 Joel Connolly
- Ian Burns 6-0 Amaan Iqbal
- Rory Thor 6-0 Riley Powell
- Iulian Boiko 6-1 Liam Pullen
- Zak Surety 6-3 Allan Taylor
- Jiang Jun 6-4 Jackson Page
- Xu Si 6-1 Ma Hailong
- Dylan Emery 6-2 Robbie McGuigan
- Dominic Dale 6-5 Stan Moody
- Julien Leclercq 6-5 Peng Yisong
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