Aaron Hill's fine form continues with victory in Belfast

Aaron Hill is into the last 32 of the Northern Ireland Open after beating Fan Zhengyi 4-1 at the Waterfront Hall this afternoon.

Hill managed his best result on the pro tour recently as he reached the quarter-final at the Wuhan Open ranking event and he brought that form home in Belfast.

Frames three and four were the winning and losing of the match as the Cork man showed nerves of steel to nick both. First, the third, a scrappy one which Hill claimed by potting the pink, followed by a little fist pump.

Fan hadn't missed a ball at that stage but suddenly found himself behind in the match for the second time.

Then, in the fourth, the world number 31 blinked, missing the frame ball on a break of 60. Hill needed a couple of visits to seal the frame, rolling the final black in alongside the side cushion.

The fifth frame would prove to be the last as Hill finished off the match with a composed break of 73.

"I played really well, it was a very clinical performance from me," he told RTÉ Sport afterwards.

"They're the frames that will break you," he said of the critical third and fourth ones," they'll win or lose you a match.

"The two of them were on my side and to get 3-1 was huge because even though I played well, he did the same. I could have been 3-1 down just as easy so it was massive.

"To win the frame to go 2-1 must have hurt him but the next one double hurt him. I had to keep him down, and finish off the match, and I did - I made a nice one visit [in the last frame]."

Next up for the 21-year-old is a meeting with either Wales' Dylan Emery.

Elsewhere this afternoon local Jordan Brown - a practice partner of Hill - secured the most impressive victory of his career since winning the Welsh Open in February 2021 as he saw off 2010 world