ANTRIM trio Mark Allen, Jordan Brown and Robbie McGuigan will be joined by Cork’s Aaron Hill when the final stages of the Wuhan Open are played between October 6 and 24.
Brown and McGuigan didn’t play in this week’s qualifiers in Leicester, with the former due to face a wildcard opponent from the host nation on the opening day of the tournament and the latter drawn to play Ding Junhui on the same day, but Allen and Hill both had to negotiate one match to join them.
World number one Allen beat women’s World champion Yulu Bai 5-1, a break of 102 in frame five his highest. He will play Jamie Clarke of Wales when the action resumes.
Hill, who had also qualified for the final stages of next month’s Xi’an Grand Prix last week, beat Ashley Carty 5-2. The highlight of that win as a break of 105 as Hill won three frames in a row from 2-2 to set up a second-round encounter with World champion Kyren Wilson or Liam Davies of Wales, who meet in the first round in Wuhan.
Ken Doherty lost 5-0 to Neil Robertson.
The qualifying action continues in Leicester, with the opening round of the British Open being played between today and Saturday.
McGuigan takes on veteran English man Mark Davis today (4pm); Doherty plays Xu Si of China tomorrow (10am).
Allen, Hill and Brown will all join the action when the final stages start at Cheltenham on September 23.
