Good morning for Irish trio as Hill, Doherty and Brown advance in Gibraltar

It was a good morning for the Irish in action at the Gibraltar Open as both Aaron Hill and Ken Doherty advanced to the last 64.

Hill is battling for tour survival but was always comfortable against Rod Lawler as he won 4-0. Next up for him will be a meeting with the winner of the match between Joshua Cooper and Stuart Carrington.

It was similarly comfortable for Doherty, who took a scrappy opener before winning the second on the black. From there the Dubliner quickly finished off the match, and he will play Louis Heathcote, who beat Dominic Dale 4-2, in the next round.

Elsewhere, Jordan Brown also got through without dropping a frame. He managed breaks of 91, 93 and 77 as he overcame Martin O'Donnell, and could face Doherty in the last 32 if both make it that far.

Fergal O'Brien, Mark Allen, Gerard Greene and Leo Fernandez are all in action tomorrow.

The event at the Europa Point Sports Complex is the 14th ranking event of the season and will be played off over three days, with the final on Saturday.