Neil Robertson survives scare from Lei Peifan to stay on track at English Open
Defending champion Robertson and UK Championship winner Mark Allen progressed to the second round.
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Your support makes all the difference.Defending champion Neil Robertson reached the last 32 of the English Open after beating Lei Peifan.
The 40-year-old won 4-3 despite Peifan hitting three straight centuries to force a decider on Tuesday.
Robertson had raced into a 3-0 lead but Peifan made it 3-3 with breaks of 136, 134 and 121 only for Robertson to take the seventh frame with a crucial break of 67.
Robertson is joined by Judd Trump, who beat Craig Steadman 4-1, and Mark Selby after his 4-2 win over Joe O’Connor.
UK Championship winner Mark Allen beat Dylan Emery 4-1.
Ali Carter beat Chen Zifan 4-0, Ding Junhui won his second-round match against Xu Si 4-1 and John Higgins eased past Mark King 4-1.
Marco Fu, the 2008 UK Championship runner up, reached the last 64 by beating Jimmy Robertson 4-1 having spent two years without playing between February 2020 and April 2022 amid the Covid pandemic and surgery on his eyes.
“It’s nice to be back competing and playing to a decent standard. I have missed so many tournaments over the last few years,” he told wst.tv.
“I enjoy being around the other players, they are like a snooker family. But when the trips are too long, it is difficult mentally, I don’t feel healthy.
“The last time I came to the UK I needed to stay for three months because of the quarantine policy in Hong Kong.”