The Riga Masters qualifiers continued at the Preston Guild Hall on Wednesday with Mark Allen, Kyren Wilson, and Anthony McGill all progressing to the main stages.
Masters champion Allen, with an average shot time of less than 15 seconds, won an entertaining contest with Daniel Wells 4-2 while Wilson, the man who Allen beat to claim his maiden Triple Crown title in January, required all seven frames in dispatching of veteran Dominic Dale in a decider.
It was a much more comfortable outing for McGill, with the Scotsman easing past tour newbie Kishan Hirani courtesy of a whitewash win.
Once again, there were hardly any upsets worth talking about as the majority of the contests went the way of the higher ranked competitor.
Simon Bedford became the third amateur top-up to reach the last 64 in Latvia later this month after sensationally coming from 3-0 down to pip Mike Dunn in a thriller 4-3 but, other than that, the results were all standard.
Arguably the tie of the round took place between Yan Bingtao and Martin Gould, with the young Chinese talent emerging with a 4-1 victory thanks to late breaks of 63 and 102.
Yan’s countrymen Xiao Guodong and Tian Pengfei made it through tight battles with Tom Ford and Zhang Anda respectively while Zhang Yong ousted Ross Muir 4-1.
Meanwhile, former runner-up Michael Holt began his campaign strongly with a 4-0 drubbing of Welshman Matthew Stevens, with compatriots Ben Woollaston and Liam Highfield also getting in on the whitewash action.
Stalwarts Anthony Hamilton and Joe Swail progressed with triumphs over Chris Totten and Dechawat Poomjaeng respectively while Rory McLeod fought back from the brink to deny Polish rookie Adam Stefanow in a final frame shoot-out.
Elsewhere, there were early-season successes for Peter Lines and his son Oliver, as well as Ashley Carty who saw off Harvel Chandler with a 4-1 scoreline.
The Riga Masters qualifiers will conclude on Thursday with Marco Fu and Luca Brecel among the remaining players set to take part.
Live coverage continues on the Eurosport Player.
Click here to view the draw. (Times: CET)
