UK Championship snooker 2020 - Mark Selby beats Hossein Vafaei, Kyren Wilson also reaches last 16

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Updated 01/12/2020 at 20:14 GMT

World No 4 Mark Selby will face Barry Hawkins in the last 16 of the UK Championship after overcoming Hossein Vafaei in a hard-fought contest. Selby secured a 6-2 win and will be joined in the next round by Kyren Wilson and Jack Lisowski.

Mark Selby reached the last 16 of the UK Championship with a battling win over Hossein Vafaei.

The match only featured four half-century breaks – the highest a 65 in the opening frame from Selby – and an hour-long fourth frame.

But it was Selby who pulled clear from 2-2 at the mid-session interval to seal a 6-2 win. He will next face Barry Hawkins.

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“I always back myself out there," said Selby in the Eurosport studio. "If you don’t you have no chance of winning. You have to believe in yourself. For about 12-18 months I wasn’t doing that, hence why my performances were quite poor.

“But since being with Chris [Henry, snooker coach] I have got a different outlook on the game and feel I have somebody in my corner so if it is going wrong you have someone to text or speak to at the interval.”

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Selby opened with a break of 65 to take the first frame but Vafaei responded well as he took the next two frames.

A marathon fourth frame that lasted an hour was eventually won by Selby to leave it all square at the mid-session interval.

Selby rockets in a red in post-interval resurgence against Vafael

Selby looked improved after the interval and took the fifth frame – after getting several chances – before moving 4-2 ahead thanks to a half-century break, his first since the opening frame.

Selby looked to be closing on another frame as he moved 62-1 ahead, but Vafaei closed to 62-58 with just the black remaining.

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Eventually it was Selby who cut the black into the bottom left corner to win the frame, and the world No 5 followed up with a 52 break to advance to the next round.

Selby survives epic battle on the black

Kyren Wilson won five frames in a row as he advanced with a 6-3 win over Kurt Maflin.

After falling 2-0 behind, Wilson reeled off successive 132 breaks and then pulled clear to seal victory. Wilson will next face Graeme Dott, who beat Masters champion Stuart Bingham on Monday.

Jack Lisowski reached the last 16 with a 6-2 win over Xu Si.

THIRD ROUND RESULTS

Tuesday, 1 December

Afternoon (1pm)

• Jack Lisowski 6-2 Xu Si
• Mark Selby 6-2 Hossein Vafaei
• Kurt Maflin 3-6 Kyren Wilson
• Joe Perry 6-5 Joe O'Connor

Evening (7pm)

• Elliot Slessor - Lu Ning
• Stephen Maguire - Pang Junxu
• Mark Williams - Ricky Walden
• Jamie Jones - Alexander Ursenbacher

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