Turkish Masters 2022: John Higgins defeats Barry Pinches, Jimmy White loses to Shaun Murphy

John Higgins continued his excellent early season form with a 5-3 win over Barry Pinches in the Turkish Masters qualifying. On Friday night the former number one lifted the Championship League trophy but he was straight back to action when he beat his English opponent.

Ad/> Pinches had an early 3-1 lead as he threatened to use his experience to cause an upset, but the 46-year-old levelled with a break of 130 as part of a four-frame streak to bring victory. SnookerO'Sullivan snub fails to bring Turkish delight to snooker chiefs12 HOURS AGO Grame Dott began his tilt at the title with a 5-0 win over Sean Maddocks, before Oliver Lines enjoyed a whitewash 5-0 win over Mark Lloyd, with Lloyd a late replacement for Noppon Saengkham, Craig Steadman pushed Martin Gould hard but fell 5-4 to his 17th-ranked opponent, but put in a break of 145, the highest of his career and of the tournament so far.

Stuart Bingham could not get over his Championship League disappointment as he lost 5-3 to Jackson Page. O'Sullivan snub fails to bring Turkish delight to snooker chiefs Higgins defeats Bingham to triumph in Championship League final 'I have not played any better' – Hungry Higgins piles on £20,000 before Players Championship defence Scott Donaldson defeated Chen Zifan 5-3, but there was better news for China as Zhao Xintong demolished Louis Heathcote -1, amateur Si Jiahui defeated Dominic Dale 5-2, and Yuan SIjun beat Barry Hawkins 5-3.

However, Chris Wakelin beat Gao Yang 5-1, and Chang Bingyu fell 5-2 to Mark Allen. Veteran Jimmy White took on Shaun Murphy in perhaps the pick of the qualifying round tie, but the experienced Englishman lost 5-2 to Murphy.

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