Five ton Fergal O'Brien beats Barry Hawkins in York

Fergal O'Brien produced the best performance by far in this year's UK Championship as he made five century breaks on the way to a 6-5 comeback win against Barry Hawkins. The Irishman opened up with a century, but was soon 4-2 adrift after six frames played. Three consecutive centuries soon turned that into a 5-4 lead, and another century clearance in the decider made that five and put him into the Last 32 as well as the history books.

Elsewhere, world number 2 Stuart Bingham suffered a shock 6-4 exit at the hands of Yu De Lu after a very poor performance on the night from Bingham. Judd Trump was also beaten and outclassed by Oliver Lines following in his fathers footsteps in this tournament by beating a top seed. Last year's runner-up Liang Wenbo was also shown the door losing to the incredible Yan Bingtao who recorded another great result winning 6-4.

World champion Mark Selby had to scrap out his match with Daniel Wells winning 6-4 from 1-3 behind in a match where it is Wells who will have all of the regrets. John Higgins scrambled against Thai Noppon Saengkham, losing the seventh frame on a re-spotted black to fall 3-4 adrift before winning all of the last three frames. Shaun Murphy looked good in a match against Robin Hull that featured centuries from both players and was of good quality for the large part, with Murphy winning 6-3 just as he did against Hull at the same stage two years ago.

No such dramas took place for Ronnie O'Sullivan who is now 12 frames won and 0 lost after another 6-0 victory, this time against Rhys Clark. Mark Allen came up trumps with his first ever maximum 147 break in professional competition in his match with Rod Lawler. It was still a tight match though but Allen came out on top a 6-4 winner.

There were simple victories for Ali Carter, a 6-2 winner against Robbie Williams and Stephen Maguire who beat young Zhao Xintong by the same scoreline. Ding Junhui was also a 6-2 winner in his match against Ross Muir, winning the last five frames of that contes, while Mark Williams overcame Andrew Higginson by the same scoreline. Williams will now face Ricky Walden who was yet another 6-2 winner, beating Scott Donaldson to continue his good start in York.

The all Welsh battle between Matthew Stevens and Michael White went the way of Stevens with a 6-4 victory while another Welshman Jamie Jones held off any hopes of a Alan McManus repeating his comeback heroics from the first round. There was success for the young Chinese crop as well with Zhou Yuelong thrashing much improved Michael Holt 6-1. German Masters champion and last years quarter-finalist Martin Gould has also lost, with China's Mei Xi Wen getting the better of that match a 6-3 winner.

Last 64 Results: 

Peter Lines 6-4 Chris Wakelin
Liam Highfield 6-5 Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden 6-2 Scott Donaldson
Mark Williams 6-2 Andrew Higginson
Joe Perry 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Matthew Stevens 6-4 Michael White
Michael Georgiou 6-4 Mike Dunn
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Rhys Clark
Ding Junhui 6-2 Ross Muir
Jamie Jones 6-2 Alan McManus
David Gilbert 6-2 Mark Joyce
Ali Carter 6-2 Robbie Williams
Marco Fu 6-0 Rory McLeod
Mei Xi Wen 6-3 Martin Gould
Jimmy Robertson 6-2 Mark Davis
Oliver Lines 6-2 Judd Trump
Yu De Lu 6-4 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 6-5 Sam Craigie
Stephen Maguire 6-2 Zhao Xintong
Fergal O'Brien 6-5 Barry Hawkins
Yan Bingtao 6-4 Liang Wenbo
Zhou Yuelong 6-1 Michael Holt
Dominic Dale 6-3 Graeme Dott
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Robin Hull
John Higgins 6-4 Noppon Saengkham
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Paul Davison
Ryan Day 6-2 Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen 6-4 Rod Lawler
Mitchell Mann 6-2 Sam Baird
Zhang Anda 6-3 Anthony McGill
Robert Milkins 6-5 Hammad Miah
Mark Selby 6-4 Daniel Wells

There has certainly been some surprises then in the second round and a number of top players have had to really battle for their Last 32 places, so let's have a look at who they will now face in the third round.

Last 32 Draw and Schedule: 

Monday 28th November 1pm: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Michael Georgiou
Mark Selby Vs Robert Milkins
Ali Carter Vs David Gilbert
Liam Highfield Vs Peter Lines

Monday 28th November 7pm: 

John Higgins Vs Ben Woollaston
Marco Fu Vs Mei Xi Wen
Zhou Yuelong Vs Yan Bingtao
Luca Brecel Vs Yu De Lu

Tuesday 29th November 1pm: 

Mark Williams Vs Ricky Walden
Shaun Murphy Vs Dominic Dale
Jimmy Robertson Vs Oliver Lines
Joe Perry Vs Matthew Stevens

Tuesday 29th November 7pm: 

Ding Junhui Vs Jamie Jones
Mark Allen Vs Ryan Day
Stephen Maguire Vs Fergal O'Brien
Zhang Anda Vs Mitchell Mann

Fergal O'Brien has set the standard but can he keep that up when he faces another tough opponent in Stephen Maguire? Well the draw has opened up a little in certain sections. The top quarter of the draw provides a good opportunity for Peter Lines and Liam Highfield, with the winner there getting a guaranteed £15,000 for making the Last 16 so expect plenty of tension there. Mark Williams and Ricky Walden play a key match in the battle for Masters spots with Walden having to win to keep his hopes alive there. Ronnie O'Sullivan has not dropped a frame so far against Rhys Clark and Boonyarit Keattikun, and he will be hoping to keep this up against Michael Georgiou. Joe Perry scrambled through from 4-1 down against Xiao Guodong who had plenty of chances from the fifth frame to close the match out, so Matthew Stevens has a chance of carrying on his best form for a while having already beaten Michael White this week. 

The second quarter is now void of fourth seed Judd Trump, but fifth seed Ding Junhui is still going without having looked 100% convincing so far in his two victories. He was looking up to the heavens at 1-2 behind to Ross Muir before Muir fell away but those signs of pressure getting to Ding or general despondency are not what his fans will want to see. Ali Carter has had two easy 6-2 victories so far, but so has his Last 32 opponent David Gilbert so that could well be a cracking game. Marco Fu meanwhile will be looking to reach the Last 16 of a full ranking event for the first time this season, if he can beat Mei Xi Wen who has already seen off Lisowski and Gould. Opportunity knocks for Lines junior after his victory against Trump as Oliver now takes on Jimmy Robertson, who thrashed Mark Davis in the last round and has only dropped two frames so far, for a Last 16 place and that guarantee of £15,000. 

The third quarter has seen three of the four top 16 players fall, including third seed Stuart Bingham. That has left an opportunity for Yu De Lu to put himself out of trouble in terms of tour survival, if he can beat Luca Brecel in the Last 32. Brecel has good history in the UK Championships for someone still so young though and he would expect to kick on after coming from behind to beat Sam Craigie in the last round. Whether Fergal O'Brien keeps up his unbelievable form remains to be seen, else 19th seed Stephen Maguire who has a good record in the UK Championships, will be ready to pounce. We have a battle of the young Chinese players between Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong, with Bingtao flying in his first half season on tour beating Liang Wenbo to get to this stage. Zhou thrashed in form Michael Holt to get here so both are clearly in good form and that should be a cracker. The top seed remaining in the third quarter though is Shaun Murphy who has not had the best run of results this season, though has said it has taken a lot of players playing well to beat him and is confident of turning that around. His opponent Dominic Dale was in the arena watching Murphy on Sunday night against Robin Hull having seen off out of form Graeme Dott in round two and he would have seen a Murphy that looked to be striking the ball well, making two centuries. 

The bottom quarter has not opened up all that much. Going to seeding John Higgins will play Ben Woollaston, Mark Allen faces Ryan Day and second seed Mark Selby will take on Robert Milkins. If there was one problem that will stop Woollaston against Higgins it is that he just does not look like a confident enough character in matches against top players and it certainly shows to me at home, and must do to his opponent also. At times he walks around the table in a timid manner that would fit someone with far less experience than Woollaston has. Having said that Higgins was not convincing against Saengkham by any means and could be starting to tire after a long stretch of winning and competing that must take it's toll mentally in the long run. Allen and Day looks like a cracker. Particularly so if you add in the fact that Allen has made his first professional 147 break in this tournament, while Ryan Day thrashed Kurt Maflin in the Last 64. Mark Selby was far from convincing against Daniel Wells with Wells having enough chances to have beaten Selby in that contest. His Last 32 opponent Milkins has been in poor form all season though and while he can really turn on the style and score heavily to beat Selby I do not see it happening. The draw has opened up a little in this area to allow Mitchell Mann and Zhang Anda a big opportunity. Again the extra £5,000 would be a big boost to either player. Mann has looked very good in beating Kyren Wilson and thrashing Sam Baird and seems to come alive the longer the format is. Zhang Anda meanwhile saw off Anthony McGill in the last round so both players have taken out a high ranked player to reach the Last 32 stages. 

Those are my thoughts on the Last 32, and i'll be back ahead of Wednesday's play when we get down to a two table set-up at the York Barbican for Wednesday and Thursday's Last 16.