Jimmy White reached the second round of UK Championship qualifying with a resounding victory on Saturday in Sheffield.
The veteran former world number two, who won the prestigious ranking title 30 years ago, thumped Brazilian Victor Sarkis 6-0.
Under the revised format for this year’s edition of the UK Championship, White will need to win three more qualifying matches in order to reach the venue stages of the tournament in York.
The Whirlwind next faces Mitchell Mann at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre on Sunday.
Meanwhile, it was a busy first day of preliminary action with 23 encounters in total being played.
A notable name who has already exited the competition is Ken Doherty, the three-time runner-up suffering a disappointing 6-4 reverse against Fraser Patrick.
There was a standout victory, however, for Ng On Yee – the Hong Kong cueist battling to a 6-4 win over fellow main tour rookie Jenson Kendrick.
But reigning women’s world champion Mink Nutcharut had a difficult day at the office and was schooled 6-0 by Fergal O’Brien.
Reanne Evans and Rebecca Kenna also bowed out with respective 6-3 defeats to Duane Jones and Andy Lee.
- CLICK HERE: How to watch the UK Championship qualifiers
Elsewhere, Michael White continued his fine return to the pro setup with a comprehensive 6-0 triumph against Jake Crofts.
The latter was one of a number of amateurs participating as top-up players in the qualifying tournament.
Only two managed to progress beyond the opening hurdle on Saturday, with Farakh Ajaib beating Chen Zifan 6-2 and Martin O’Donnell edging Ben Mertens 6-4.
Among the others to advance further were Alfie Burden, James Cahill, David Lilley, and Si Jiahui.
The first qualifying round concludes on Sunday morning before the second round gets under way in the afternoon.
UK Championship Qualifying
Saturday’s Results
Round 1
Duane Jones 6-3 Reanne Evans
Peng Yisong 6-4 Himanshu Jain
Alfie Burden 6-4 Liam Davies
Andy Lee 6-3 Rebecca Kenna
James Cahill 6-2 Liam Graham
Jimmy White 6-0 Victor Sarkis
Sanderson Lam 6-1 Amaan Iqbal
Andrew Pagett w/o Stephen Hendry
Michael White 6-0 Jake Crofts
Mohamed Ibrahim 6-3 Julien Leclercq
Farakh Ajaib 6-2 Chen Zifan
Ng On Yee 6-4 Jenson Kendrick
Lukas Kleckers 6-1 Lewis Ullah
Dean Yound 6-1 Lee Stephens
Fergal O’Brien 6-0 Mink Nutcharut
Asjad Iqbal 6-5 Barry Pinches
Fraser Patrick 6-4 Ken Doherty
Oliver Brown 6-3 Ross Muir
John Astley 6-2 Robbie McGuigan
David Lilley 6-1 Joel Connelly
Martin O’Donnell 6-4 Ben Mertens
Dylan Emery 6-4 Adam Duffy
Zak Surety 6-0 Brad Ferguson
Si Jiahui 6-0 Allan Taylor
Click here to view the full draw (Times: CET)
Featured image credit: WST
