Irishmen David Morris and David Hogan exited the Shanghai Masters at the second round of qualifying at The Academy in Sheffield.
Hogan must have thought that his luck was in this week when he progressed from his preliminary round over Lucky Vatnani and then his first qualifying round encounter with Bjorn Haneveer with two successive walkovers.
However, that lack of match sharpness was evident today as the 2009 European Champion plummeted to a 5-0 whitewash from veteran Alan McManus.
Morris, meanwhile, was defeated 5-2 by Adrian Gunnell as both Irishmen continue to struggle to adapt in their return to the professional Main Tour.
Scotsman McManus was not the only stalwart of the circuit that enjoyed successes on the baize today.
Ten-time ranking event champion Jimmy White came from 3-2 behind to edge Adam Wicheard 5-3 including runs of 83, 79 and 67.
James Wattana, who ‘The Whirlwind’ beat in the semi-finals of the World Championship 18 years ago, continued his solid form with a comprehensive 5-2 triumph over Andy Hicks.
White’s namesake Michael fired in the highest century break of his career – a 145 the highlight in his 5-2 victory over Alfie Burden.
The 20 year-old Welshman has never been to the televised stages of a major tournament but has showed signs of more consistent improvement recently and will play Fergal O’Brien of Ireland in the penultimate qualifying stage.
Performance of the day would undoubtedly be awarded to hot young protegé Jack Lisowski, who ousted countryman David Grace 5-0 in double-quick time.
Lisowski is making a steady rise up the rankings and it will not be long before he threatens the Top 32 in the world if he continues this powerful play.
Meanwhile, in a trio of all-Chinese clashes, Liu Song, Liu Chuang and Cao Yupeng all snatched deciding frame thrilling wins over their countrymen Tian Pengfei, Li Yan and Xiao Guodong respectively.
Elsewhere, there were important victories for India’s Aditya Mehta, Andrew Norman, Anthony McGill, Kurt Maflin, Peter Lines, Ian McCulloch and Passakorn Suwannawat of Thailand.
