Shaun Murphy ended the year strongly as he produced another fine show of power scoring to beat Jimmy White 5-2 in the German Masters qualifiers at the Barnsley Metrodome.
The “Magician” had already compiled four tons in the preliminary stages after a magnificent outing against Martin O’Donnell in the opening round and he added three more to see off White in a high-quality affair.
The victory puts a nice gloss to the end of the year for Murphy, who struggled for much of the 2018/19 campaign before reaching the final of last week’s Scottish Open.
Defending champion Mark Williams ensured that he will be returning to the Tempodrom in late January as well following a 5-1 triumph over Jak Jones.
The Welshman made a brace of century breaks at the beginning of the contest with countryman and ended up coasting to the winning line.
By contrast, it was a much more difficult affair for Ryan Day, who left it late before constructing timely breaks of 75 and 83 to overcome Sunny Akani in a decider.
Former German Masters champion Martin Gould was also taken the distance but couldn’t book his place in the last 32 as he fell in a 5-4 loss to Rory McLeod.
European Masters runner-up Joe Perry recorded the most convincing scoreline of the second qualifying round as he restricted Chris Totten to only 23 points in a humbling 5-0 drubbing.
Chinese duo Zhou Yuelong and Yuan Sijun qualified for Berlin, while Sam Baird beat Sam Craigie 5-3.
Earlier on Thursday, the penultimate day of action at the Barnsley Metrodome, the first round of qualifiers reached its conclusion.
World number one Mark Selby and four-time world champion John Higgins overcame their initial challenges in Billy Joe Castle and Soheil Vahedi respectively.
The biggest casualty was Marco Fu, with the Hong Kong cueist suffering an early exit at the hands of Matthew Selt.
Three-time ranking event winner Ricky Walden appeared to be heading for a similar fate but launched a late fight back from 4-1 down against Scott Donaldson to prevail in a final frame shoot out.
Stuart Bingham, Jimmy Robertson, and David Gilbert were among some of the others to remain in the hunt for a spot at the venue stages.
The remaining second qualifying round ties will take place on Friday at the Barnsley Metrodome, bringing a wrap to snooker in 2018.
