Tom Ford produced an excellent display to hammer John Higgins 5-0 in the last 32 of the European Masters on Wednesday.
The Englishman compiled breaks of 127, 87, 83, and 68 as he consigned his esteemed opponent to a bagel scoreline in Milton Keynes.
Having only beaten the Scot once prior to this season, Ford has now won their last two meetings following his triumph in the World Grand Prix a couple of months ago.
“I did see a 5-0 coming, but not for me to be fair,” Tom Ford quipped during his post-match interview with the World Snooker Tour.
“I went out there and knew I had to play well. I got off to a good start and put John under pressure to start with.”
“I went out there and played well – my safety was good, my break building was good – so I’m very pleased.
“I’m pleased to get over the line, because even though you’re 4-0 up, you’re still thinking that he’s such a good player. You can never take the foot off the gas.
“I played well against John last time and felt good. This time, I didn’t feel that good yesterday about my game, but halfway through the first or second frame I started to feel good.
“I know my game is eventually coming, but I just didn’t realise I was going to play that well today.”
Ford faces Fraser Patrick in the last 16 after the latter prevailed in a tight tussle with 2020 European Masters runner-up Martin Gould in a decider.
Elsewhere, some other notable names joined Higgins at the exit doors with Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson both crashing out.
Trump suffered a 5-3 reverse against a strong-scoring Kurt Maflin, while Wilson was edged 5-4 by Chinese youngster Fan Zhengyi.
Fan contributed breaks of 75, 69, 66, 57, and a 125 in which he missed the brown en route to a potential maximum break.
Luca Brecel, the Scottish Open champion from before Christmas, also bowed out after a close defeat to Sunny Akani.
Meanwhile, Ronnie O’Sullivan wasn’t at his best but comfortably eased through to the next round with a 5-1 win against Wu Yize.
O’Sullivan is one of only two top 16 seeds left in the bottom half of the draw and will be a heavy favourite from here to go on and reach the final at least.
The Rocket faces Ashley Hugill next after a 5-1 victory for the latter over Ali Carter, while Anthony McGill represents the other seed left in that section.
Yan Bingtao, Graeme Dott, Ryan Day, and Jordan Brown all progressed in the top half of the draw as well.
On Thursday morning, the remaining matches in the last 32 take place before the quarter-final line-up is determined by the end of the day’s play.
Last 32 Draw
(Schedule times in GMT)
Jordan Brown 5-0 Xiao Guodong
Zhou Yuelong 4-5 Graeme Dott
Luca Brecel 4-5 Sunny Akani
Ryan Day 5-4 Ashley Carty
Kyren Wilson 4-5 Fan Zhengyi
Yan Bingtao 5-2 Joe Perry
David Gilbert vs Barry Hawkins (Thurs, 10am)
Pang Junxu vs Neil Robertson (Thurs, 10am)
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Wu Yize
Ashley Hugill 5-1 Ali Carter
Martin Gould 4-5 Fraser Patrick
Tom Ford 5-0 John Higgins
Noppon Saengkham vs Liang Wenbo (Thurs, 10am)
Yuan Sijun vs Ricky Walden (Thurs, 10am)
Mitchell Mann 1-5 Anthony McGill
Kurt Maflin 5-3 Judd Trump
Live coverage is available across Europe on Eurosport, with other options available around the world by clicking here.
Featured photo credit: WST
