MARK Allen has reached the last 32 of the Unibet British Open after a 4-1 win over Cork’s Aaron Hill in Cheltenham.
The world number three from Antrim opened the round-two contest with a break of 102 and followed that with a 56 for 2-0.
Hill (22) looked like getting on the board in frame three after a break of 50 but saw Allen steal the frame on the colours for 3-0.
Hill hit back by stealing frame four on the black to reduce the deficit to 3-1 but it was a stay of execution for the world number 63 as Allen completed victory with a break of 101.
He now awaits the draw for round three, which takes place on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, Jordan Brown’s first-round match was the last to finish in the small hours of Tuesday morning and the 2021 Welsh Open champion was beaten 4-2 by Zhang Anda.
The Antrim man had raced into a 2-0 lead against the world number 12 but after losing the third he suffered a huge slice of bad luck when knocking in the yellow while potting the blue in frame four and Zhang levelled with a 56.
A 114 break put the Chinese player ahead for the first time and he then wrapped up victory with a break of 66 in frame six.
Brown’s next mission is qualifiers for the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open this weekend, followed by qualifiers for the International Championship next week. That will be followed by the Wuhan Open from October 6 to 12. He will be joined in all three events by Antrim club-mate Robbie McGuigan.
The Wuhan Open will be followed by the final stages of the Northern Ireland Open at the Waterfront between October 20 and 27.
