Ronnie O’Sullivan stepped into the third round of the Northern Ireland Trophy but only just! He trailed Ken Doherty (who performed well in front of a partizan Irish crowd) 4-2 in the best of 9 match but managed to win the remaining three frames.
The win now sets up a third round tie against World semi-finalist Joe Perry tonight at 19:30.
In the other remaining second round match played last night Ding Junhui, a hopeful for a future World title, was surprisingly beaten 5-4 by world number 54 Mark Davis. The 36-year-old Sussex based professional who has had a highest World Ranking of 35 in his 17 year professional career has strung together some good results to reach a ranking tournament last 16.
Davis will now play Ali Carter for a place in the last 8.
Last 16 Draw
- John Higgins (Sco) v Liang Wenbo (Chn)
- Stephen Maguire (Sco) v Alan McManus (Sco)
- Stephen Lee (Eng) v Dave Harold (Eng)
- Mark Allen (NI) v Mark Williams (Wal)
- Mark Selby (Eng) v Ian McCulloch (Eng)
- Ali Carter (Eng) v Mark Davis (Eng)
- Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) v Joe Perry (Eng)
- Ryan Day (Wal) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)
