Chinese star Ding Junhui sailed into the last 16 of the 2008 World Snooker China Open in Beijing on Tuesday, while defending champion Graeme Dott was knocked out.
Ding Junhui
The Chinese hopeful eliminated Joe Parry 5-3 with match breaks of 71, 71 , 63, 90 and 55.
"In the whole, I defended and attacked well, and struggled hard in the last frame," said Ding, who just came over from a cold.
Early on, Barry Pinches dominated the match from the very beginning and left no chance for Dott to catch up.
"We both have chances to win, apparently, Dott was not in his good form," said Pinches.
Snatching the first two frames with beautiful shootings to collect 116 points and 65 respectively, Pinches gained enough confidence and never looked back.
Dotted fought back 64-5 in the third frame, then it was all out-attack from Pinches followed by runs of 102 and 84.
Both players had several scoring chances in the deciding frame, but nerves seemed to get the better of Pinches to seal the win with a 62-53.
"Losing any game could be disappointing. I have nothing to say about this match. I played rubbish today," said Dott.
The former world number two has endured a difficult season both on and off the table, and has been without a win in his last 14 matches on the Tour.
Barry Hawkins came back from 1-0 down to fire in breaks of 73, 102, 59, 68, 83, taking a convincing 5-1 win over Stephen Hendry.
Ryan Day edged Mathew Stevens 5-3, while Mark King defeated Steve Davis also with 5-3.
In other matches, Ken Doherty enjoyed a convincing win over Mike Dunn 5-2 and Stephen Maguire prevailed 5-3 against Fergal Obrien, while Nigel Bond eliminated Stephen Lee 5-3.
(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2008)