Higgins thrashes Walker to enter 2nd round of Indian Open Snooker

Four-time world champion John Higgins of Scotland reigned supreme on the green baize as he thrashed England's Joel Walker 4-0 to enter the second round of the Indian Open World Ranking Snooker tournament in New Delhi, on Tuesday.

The 38-year-old Higgins hardly broke a sweat in blowing away the challenge of 19-year-old Walker, who committed far too many errors.

The world No. 1 10 Scot showed his class and treated the crowd some quality snooker at the Le Meridien Hotel.

"It's the best table that I have played on all year. I was lucky today. It was Joel's first match on the TV and he gave me a lot of chances," Higgins, who had breaks of 76 and
61 in the third and fourth frames, said after the match.

"I have not been playing well of late because I was tinkering with the cue that I changed a few times, tried different sizes. But now, I am happy with my cueing and hopefully, win a few matches. I capitalised on my breaks as the best-of-seven-frames is a difficult format," he said.

The second day of the event saw Scotland's Anthony McGill snatching a 4-1 win over England's Barry Hawkins who lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the World Championship earlier this year.

McGill, who is ranked 47th, gave a fine exhibition of his talent as he recorded two century breaks of 123 and 103 in the second and fifth frames against world number seven Hawkins.

The 2004 world junior champion Gary Wilson from England scored an upset 4-0 win over compatriot Dominic Dale, ranked 21st in the world, with a run of 125 in the third frame.

The 28-year-old Wilson played a consistent game as he also crafted two half-century breaks of 66 in the first and 72 in the fourth.

Scotland's world number five Steven Maguire defeated Paul Davison from England 4-1 in his first round while Chinese cueist Ding Junhui won a hard-fought contest against Barry Pinches of England 4-3.

Results:

First round: John Higgins (SCO) bt Joel Walker (ENG) 4-0 (67-10, 68-11, 76-00, 73-00); Anthony McGill (SCO) bt Barry Hawkins (ENG) 4-1 (69-00, 132-00, 77-6, 00-64, 103-13); Gary Wilson (ENG) bt Dominic Dale (ENG) 4-0 (78-14, 65-53, 125-06, 92-39); Stephen Maguire (SCO) bt Paul S Davison (ENG) 4-1 (75-1, 27-42, 88-16, 76-03, 73-02); Andrew Higginson (ENG) bt Jamie Burnett (ENG) 4-2 (75-07, 70-05, 67-33, 03-58, 00-86, 68-1); Ding Junhui (CHN) bt Barry Pinches (ENG) 4-3 (07-75, 68-44, 70-9, 22-70, 22-60, 70-19, 89-04); Li Wengbo (CHN) bt David Morris (ENG) 4-2 (64-25, 66-32, 105-06, 08-86, 33-70, 78-0); Mark Davis (ENG) bt Elliot Slessor (ENG) 4-2 (35-97, 66-62, 61-70, 89-13, 48-36, 78-08); Hamdah Miah (ENG) bt Chen Ze (CHN) 4-3 (81-01, 97-11, 29-84, 09-73, 36-71, 68-13, 75-04).

Image: John Higgins

Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images