Higgins marches on at inaugural Turkish Masters

John Higgins breezed into the last-32 of the inaugural Nirvana Turkish Masters with a 5-2 victory over top amateur star Dylan Emery.

On the opening day of the first professional snooker event to be staged in Turkey, Higgins lost a scrappy opener before a 106 break in the second frame brought him level in Antalya.

Emery, who will play on the pro tour for the first time next season after winning the European Under-21 Championship, missed a simple final pink which allowed Higgins to move into a lead he never surrendered.

Higgins, a four-time world champion, closed out the match with a 128 break but was impressed by his 20-year-old Welsh opponent.

The Scot said in quotes on World Snooker's official website: "Dylan is getting himself ready for the tour now and he'll do well there.

"He's a bit raw now which is understandable, but he has a lot of tools to his game and he could be a very good player. He missed a few and I was lucky to fluke the pink to go 2-1 up. I made a nice break to finish the match."

Higgins next plays Michael Holt, who edged out Germany's Lukas Kleckers in a final frame shootout to prevail 5-4.

Amateur Si Jiahui stunned world number 13 Anthony McGill by prevailing 5-2, while 2006 world champion Graeme Dott defeated Scott Donaldson 5-4.

A break of 60 saw UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong defeat Michael White by the same scoreline, while back-to-back century breaks from Martin Gould helped him overturn a 4-3 deficit to beat David Grace 5-4.

Jordan Brown, Matthew Selt, Jackson Page and Tom Ford also progressed to the next stage.