Joe Perry made a tremendous 145 total clearance during a 4-3 victory over Michael White as he edged into the third round of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.
Perry, a pro since 1991, equalled his best ever break and also set a new target for the £5,000 high break with his superb 145 total clearance in frame three. The Cambridgeshire cueman also made a 99 in the second frame and a 66 in the decider to beat Welshman White and set up a tie with Hossein Vafaei or Anton Kazakov.
World number 27 Perry, who won the BetVictor Welsh Open in 2022, has struggled for form so far this season but hopes today’s performance could be a turning point.
“It was a really good game and I’m happy with how I played,” Perry told Eurosport. “It was great to be out there in a big venue with a good crowd, you can sometimes falter under the lights but in general it brings the best out of me and makes me try harder. I have had two good runs to the semi-finals here in the past and hopefully I can go deep again this week.”
Ricky Walden also won 4-3, beating Dominic Dale in a marathon battle which lasted three hours and eight minutes. Breaks of 83, 68 and 93 helped Walden go 3-1 up before Dale recovered to 3-3. The decider came down to a long safety battle on the colours, and Walden had a slice of good fortune as he missed the blue to a baulk corner but fluked a snooker. He later converted a tricky pot on the blue to earn a meeting with Stuart Bingham.
“I really had to dig deep, Dominic is such a class player,” said Walden. “I rode my luck in the end. I was feeling a lot of pressure because I feel something is bubbling in my game, but you have to stay in tournaments to show that. I feel I am playing well and I’m prepared to play the big shots when I need to. I believe I can build some momentum and catapult back up the rankings.”
BetVictor European Masters champion Barry Hawkins saw off Jiang Jun 4-1 with a top break of 81, while Bingham top scored with 118 in a 4-1 defeat of Xu Si.
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