WATCH - John Higgins produces fabulous 147 break in Belfast

The four-times world champion has earned £300,000 in the past two weeks after winning the China Championship and Champion of Champions events, and looks good to challenge for a third straight trophy if his form in Northern Ireland is a good indicator.

Higgins - who beat Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan in finals over the past two weeks - simply sizzled at the Titanic Exhibition Centre as he made runs of 137, 130 and 147 to blitz his poor opponent, whose 58 in the third frame at least allowed him to avoid a whitewash.

The Scotsman finished off in style with a brilliant double on the final red enough to help him make the maximum and a possible £12,000 bonus with £10,000 for the 147 and £2,000 for the highest break.

Higgins once made two maximum breaks in consecutive matches at the LG Cup final and British Open in 2003.

At the age of 41, he is playing as good if not better than ever with every ball appearing to hit the back of the pockets without touching the sides.

Higgins will face Zhou Yuelong on Thursday for a place in the last 16.

Also in the early action on Wednesday there were wins for Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry, but world semi-finalist Alan McManus was beaten 4-0 by world number 93 Sanderson Lam.

Sam Baird 4 – 3 Marco Fu

Anthony McGill 4 – 3 Aditya Mehta

Mark J Williams 4 – 0 Craig Steadman

Yan Bingtao 4 – 0 Eden Sharav

Mark King 4 – 2 Liang Wenbo

Jack Lisowski 4 – 1 John Astley

Akani Songsermsawad 4 – 3 Mark Davis

Ricky Walden 4 – 3 K Lertsattayatthorn

Barry Hawkins 4 – 1 Michael Holt

Mark Allen 4 – 2 Michael Georgiou

Robbie Williams 4 – 1 Yu Delu

Dominic Dale 4 – 0 Tom Ford

Robin Hull 4 – 2 Lee Walker

Joe Perry 4 – 3 Jimmy Robertson

Gary Wilson 4 - 3 Andrew Higginson

Zhang Anda 4 – 3 Chris Wakelin

Sanderson Lam 4 – 0 Alan McManus

Michael White 4 - 3 Chen Zhe

Fraser Patrick 4 – 0 Duane Jones

John Higgins 4 – 1 Sam Craigie

Scott Donaldson 4 – 3 Kurt Dunham

Josh Boileau 4 – 2 Hamza Akbar

Peter Ebdon 4 - 3 Adam Duffy

Zhou Yuelong 4 – 0 Allan Taylor

Hossein Vafaei Ayouri 4 - 2 Zak Surety

Kurt Maflin 4 – 1 Alex Borg

Luca Brecel 4 – 2 Jamie Cope

Fergal O'Brien 4 – 0 Mitchell Mann