Robertson, Higgins and Lisowski book trip to inaugural Xi’an Grand Prix with wins

‘An underrated implement’ – Lisowski pots ball with swan neck

Neil Robertson, John Higgins and Jack Lisowski displayed their class on Thursday to reach the last 64 of the inaugural Xi’an Grand Prix in China next month.

After Higgins enjoyed a 5-2 win over Alexander Ursenbacher in the afternoon session at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester, 2010 world champion Robertson eased past Allan Taylor 5-2 with world No. 19 Lisowski completing a 5-1 victory over Ross Muir.

Robertson slipped to 27th in the world after a forgettable 2023/24 campaign, but compiled blistering knocks of 137, 131 and 65 behind closed doors to book his trip to the tournament finals venue for next month’s second ranking event of the season (19-25 August).

Elsewhere, Lisowski top scored with 73 against Muir while Higgins produced runs of 82, 63 and 67 in victory over Switzerland’s leading player Ursenbacher.

There was also a dramatic win for former British Open winner Ryan Day, who watched Hong Kong’s Ka Wai Cheung roll in breaks of 116, 100 and 103 before winning the final three frames from 4-2 behind boosted by 85 and 56 of his own.

Day will face fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens in the round of 64 after the two-time world finalist whitewashed Andrew Higginson 5-0.

Qualifying continues on Friday with Luca Brecel taking on Hammad Miah at 2:30pm and Mark Williams facing Liam Graham at 7pm.

Latest Xi’an Grand Prix qualifying results

Dominic Dale 5-4 Mohammed Shehab Neil Robertson 5-2 Allan Taylor Ben Mertens 5-4 Simon Blackwell Dylan Emery 5-2 Jackson Page Jack Lisowski 5-1 Ross Muir Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed David Gilbert 5-1 Reanne EvansMatthew Stevens 5-0 Andrew HigginsonAmir Sarkhosh 5-3 Joshua Thomond Artemijs Zizins 5-3 Robbie WilliamsRyan Day 5-4 Ka Wai Cheung John Higgins 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher Jordan Brown 5-2 Liam PullenBulcsu Revesz 5-0 David GraceHe Guoqiang 5-4 Ashley CartySunny Akani 5-2 Fan ZhengyiMa Hailong 5-3 Martin O’DonnellJamie Jones 5-2 Mostafa DorghamXiao Guodong 5-2 Iulian BoikoThepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-3 Lei PeifanScott Donaldson w/o Lim Kok Leong

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