Jimmy White advanced to the second round of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters as the new lucrative tournament commenced on Friday.
The 62 year-old compiled a high break of 67 as he overcame Mohamed Shehab with a 4-2 scoreline at the Green Halls in Riyadh.
White plays Andrew Higginson next and is already guaranteed £4,000 from the event which boasts a total prize fund of over £2.3 million.
It was a busy opening day of action as the players seeded from 81 to 144 in the Saudi Masters draw first entered the fray.
There were 17 amateur wildcards from the Middle East region who were invited to participate, with only one managing to secure victory.
Egypt’s Mohamed Elkhayat fought back from 3-1 behind to deny Thailand’s Baipat Siripaporn her maiden win as a professional.
Siripaporn’s countrywoman Mink Nutcharut did enjoy success, however, courtesy of a 4-1 defeat of Kusai Hamed.
Among the others to qualify for the next round were youngsters Stan Moody, Liam Graham, Bulcsú Revesz, Antoni Kowalski, and Liam Davies.
The latter needed all seven frames but ultimately outlasted former world champion Ken Doherty in a deciding frame, compiling breaks of 121, 84, and 53.
Former ranking event winner Michael Holt also progressed to set up a meeting against Liu Hongyu.
On Saturday, the second round will take place with the contenders seeded from 49 to 80 joining the action.
The Saudi Masters draw takes on a similar outlook to the ones adopted for both the World and UK Championships.
Players enter in staggered rounds based on their ranking, with the top 16 seeded through to the last 32 of the competition.
That means the likes of world champion Kyren Wilson, world number one Judd Trump, and pre-tournament favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan will first play on Tuesday.
Friday’s Results
Rory Thor 4-0 Omar Alajlani
Baipat Siripaporn 3-4 Mohamed Elkhayat
Chris Totten 4-2 Haris Tahir
Michael Holt 4-0 Ahmad Abul
Mink Nutcharut 4-1 Kusai Hamed
Reanne Evans 0-4 Simon Blackwell
Artemijs Zizins w/o Lim Kok Leong
Robbie McGuigan 4-3 Abdulraouf Saigh
Liam Graham 4-0 Ali Hussain Ali
Oliver Lines 4-0 Faisal Bahashwan
Cheung Ka Wai 4-1 Joshua Thomand
Lei Peifan 4-2 Bai Yulu
Allan Taylor 4-2 Adeel Aqdus
Farakh Ajaib 4-0 Haitham Al Mahri
Julien Leclercq 4-2 Dylan Emery
Jimmy White 4-2 Mohamed Shehab
Andrew Pagett 4-2 Wang Yuchen
Huang Jiahao 4-0 Ahmed Elsayed
Ben Mertens 4-0 Abdullah Alotayyani
Antoni Kowalski 4-1 Habib Sabah
Gong Chenzhi 4-0 Ali Jalil Ali
Mitchell Mann 3-4 Paul Deaville
Bulcsú Révész 4-2 Iulian Boiko
Dean Young 4-0 Saleh Alamoudi
Mostafa Dorgham 1-4 Jonas Luz
Haydon Pinhey 4-0 Ayman Alamri
Manasawin Phetmalaikul 0-4 Amir Sarkhosh
Zak Surety 4-0 Ali Alobaidli
Duane Jones 4-1 Khalid Alkamali
Liam Davies 4-3 Ken Doherty
Kreishh Gurbaxani 0-4 Sunny Akani
Stan Moody 4-0 Ziyad Alqabbani
Saturday’s matches
12pm UTC+1
Hammad Miah vs Rory Thor
Jimmy Robertson vs Mohamed Elkhayet
Ashley Carty vs Chris Totten
Liu Hongyu vs Michael Holt
Anthony Hamilton vs Mink Nutcharut
Xing Zihao vs Simon Blackwell
Xu Si vs Artemijs Zizins
Ma Hailong vs Robbie McGuigan
Not before 1pm UTC+1
Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Liam Graham
Ben Woollaston vs Oliver Lines
Louis Heathcote vs Cheung Ka Wai
Jamie Clarke vs Lei Peifan
Aaron Hill vs Allan Taylor
Stuart Carrington vs Farakh Ajaib
Graeme Dott vs Julien Leclercq
Andrew Higginson vs Jimmy White
6pm UTC+1
Alexander Ursenbacher vs Andrew Pagett
Martin O’Donnell vs Huang Jiahao
Long Zehuang vs Ben Mertens
He Guoqiang vs Antoni Kowalski
David Grace vs Gong Chenzhi
Ian Burns vs Paul Deaville
Mark Davis vs Bulcsú Révész
Alfie Burden vs Dean Young
Not before 7pm UTC+1
Jiang Jun vs Jonas Luz
David Lilley vs Haydon Pinhey
Ross Muir vs Amir Sarkhosh
Sanderson Lam vs Zak Surety
Daniel Wells vs Duane Jones
Marco Fu vs Liam Davies
Tian Pengfei vs Sunny Akani
Liam Pullen vs Stan Moody
Click here to view the full draw, including updated results.
Featured photo credit: WST
