Northern Ireland Open: Big names fall as Belfast looks ahead to Allen and Brown clash
Defending champion Jack Lisowski began his Northern Ireland Open title defence with a 4–1 victory over Huang Jiahao on Sunday, but the opening day at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall brought several high-profile exits.
Former world champions Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy were beaten, while Neil Robertson and Ali Carter also went out in the first round. The tournament continues in Belfast through to Sunday, 25 October.
Selby, Murphy and Robertson knocked out
Selby lost 4–2 to Louis Heathcote, while Liam Davies defeated Murphy by the same score. Robertson’s campaign ended in a 4–1 defeat to Ricky Walden, and Xu Si beat Carter 4–0.
Gary Wilson was edged out 4–3 by Mateusz Baranowski, while Matthew Selt also won a deciding-frame match, beating Hossein Vafaei 4–3.
Lisowski progressed with a 4–1 win over Huang. He will meet Anthony McGill in the next round after McGill beat Stephen Maguire 4–1. Sam Craigie, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Wang Xinbo and Joe O’Connor also opened with victories. Elliot Slessor advanced by walkover after He Guoqiang withdrew.
Northern Ireland Open fixtures this week
The first round continues on Monday, 19 October, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and John Higgins among the players due to appear.
Monday’s schedule includes:
From 10am
Pang Junxu v Alfie Burden
Chris Wakelin v Jamie Jones
From 1pm
Lei Peifan v Luca Brecel
Barry Hawkins v Daniel Wells
Wu Yize v Scott Donaldson
From 3pm
Kyren Wilson v Ben Mertens
David Gilbert v Oliver Sykes
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Cheung Ka Wai
From 7pm
Stuart Bingham v Yao Pengcheng
Judd Trump v Martin O’Donnell
Jak Jones v Tom Ford
From 9pm
Zhang Anda v Liam Pullen
John Higgins v Liam Highfield
The remaining first-round matches are scheduled for Tuesday, 20 October. The headline local fixture sees Mark Allen face Jordan Brown from 1pm, guaranteeing a Northern Ireland player in the next round. Allen’s match also marks his return to competition at his home event.
Other Tuesday matches include Mark Williams against Robbie Williams and Zhao Xintong against Gao Yang.
Later rounds in Belfast
The last-32 matches are scheduled across Wednesday and Thursday, 21–22 October, with the last-16 also taking place on Thursday. The quarter-finals follow on Friday, 23 October, the semi-finals on Saturday, 24 October, and the final on Sunday, 25 October.
Sunday’s Northern Ireland Open results
Jack Lisowski 4–1 Huang Jiahao
Anthony McGill 4–1 Stephen Maguire
Wang Xinbo 4–2 Si Jiahui
Mateusz Baranowski 4–3 Gary Wilson
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4–2 Aaron Hill
Liam Davies 4–2 Shaun Murphy
Louis Heathcote 4–2 Mark Selby
Matthew Selt 4–3 Hossein Vafaei
Sam Craigie 4–3 Xiao Guodong
Xu Si 4–0 Ali Carter
Elliot Slessor advanced by walkover against He Guoqiang
Joe O’Connor 4–1 Matthew Stevens
Ricky Walden 4–1 Neil Robertson
external link: World Snooker Tour: Northern Ireland Open