India’s Pankaj Advani opened his campaign at the Indian Open world ranking snooker tournament with a dominating 4-1 victory over world number 29 Marcus Campbell here on Tuesday.
The Scot seemed off-colour as he struggled against the formidable Indian, who was in a punishing mood.
Advani, an eight-time world champion, showed his winning experience with a strong start to the match. The Indian raced to a 1-0 lead with the help of a 74 break and followed that up with some fine potting to make it 2-0.
Advani enjoyed a healthy lead in the third, starting with a 52 break but Campbell showed he was an opponent not to be taken lightly. A fluke red in the centre pocket was all he needed to carve out a brilliant clearance with two reds remaining to reduce the scoreline to 2-1.
Four times World champion John Higgins, displaying some silken touch, eased past England’s Joel Walker 4-0 to enter the second round.
Higgins, the 38-year old 10th ranked Scot had few problems in countering the challenge of 19-year old Walker who committed far too many mistakes to trouble his opponent who was clearly in a different league.
World No.5 Steven Maguire overwhelmed Paul Davison 4-1 in a first round match.
The second day’s proceedings began with rising Scottish star Anthony McGill snatching a 4-1 win over England’s Barry Hawkins.
McGill, who is ranked 47, gave a fine exhibition of his talent as he recorded two century breaks of 123 and 103 in the second and fifth frames against World No.7 Hawkins.
Also scoring an upset win was 2004 World junior champion Gary Wilson from England who eliminated compatriot Dominic Dale, ranked 21, 4-0 with a run of 125 in the third frame marking his progress to the second round.