John Higgins survives scare to reach Indian Open last 32

The highest ranked player in the field this week, John Higgins, came from 2-0 down to come through a very tough match against Zhao Xintong in the last 64 at the Indian Open. The incredibly talented Chinese youngster Zhao opened up with breaks of 73 and 78 to surge ahead, before being pulled back to all square at 2-2 with the Scot making two big breaks of his own, 77 and 88. Zhao was a big favourite for much of frame five after an early 60 break but Higgins came back to steal it and get the crucial 3-2 advantage. Another break of 60 was enough this time for Zhao to force a decider, but Higgins showed all of his experience by putting together a contribution of 87 and squeezing through in a seven frame thriller, that he could easily have lost. 

However, his fellow Scot Stephen Maguire could not come through his own decider and was sent packing by Thailand's Akani Songsermsawad, despite making a century break in the second frame, while Akani's highest break in the match was 51. Continuing on the Scottish theme, defending champion Anthony McGill made it through to the last 32 very comfortably winning his heldover last 128 clash 4-0 against home favourite Aditya Mehta before winning the last four frames of his 4-1 win over Ashley Hugill. Equally, 2006 world champion Graeme Dott hit three 50+ breaks in a comfortable 4-1 win over Jack Lisowski to continue some of his good recent form, though Alan McManus perished 4-3 at the hands of Elliot Slessor. 

Recent China Championship winner Luca Brecel could not kick on here in India as he fell to a good performance from Gary Wilson, who had runs of 62, 64 and a closing 103 to complete a 4-1 win. There was also a defeat for Zhou Yuelong despite him making the highest break of the tournament so far. His 141 inconsequential to the overall outcome with Kurt Maflin booking his place in Thursday's last 32 with a 4-2 triumph. 

However, top players in Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen and Joe Perry all had easy enough routes into the round of 32. Back to back ranking finalist Murphy was made to battle in his heldover wildcard game but came through 4-2, before upping his standard in a 4-0 beating of Hammad Miah that included runs of 80 and 102. Allen was also in heavy scoring form against Niu Zhuang, who only scored 30 points in this 4-0 defeat. Breaks of 79, 83 and 89 demonstrated that the Northern Irishman could be one of the leading players this week. Joe Perry meanwhile had a high break of 93 among four breaks of over 50 in his 4-1 defeat of Daniel Wells. 

Ricky Walden came from 3-1 down against Alfie Burden to end avoid losing five straight matches against Burden, while Tian Pengfei came from the very brink at 3-0 down to see off Tom Ford 4-3 in a very closely fought contest that saw most frames come down to the final colours. 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Anthony McGill Vs Rory McLeod

Hossein Vafei Vs Gerard Greene

Tian Pengfei Vs Zhang Anda

Sam Baird Vs Ken Doherty

Stuart Bingham Vs Matthew Selt

Mark King Vs Graeme Dott

Joe Perry Vs Elliot Slessor 

Shaun Murphy Vs Fergal O'Brien

Sean O'Sullivan Vs Xu Si

Ricky Walden Vs Ben Woollaston

David Gilbert Vs Kurt Maflin

Mark Allen Vs Alexander Ursenbacher

Yu De Lu Vs Liam Highfield 

Dominic Dale Vs Akani Songsermsawad

Michael Holt Vs Gary Wilson 

John Higgins Vs Martin O'Donnell 

At the top of the draw I fancy defending champion McGill and Hossein Vafei to carry on while I just favour the more fluent Zhang Anda in the battle of the Chinese players against Tian Pengfei. Ken Doherty's run continues and I fancy another close game against Sam Baird, but I have to carry on sticking with Ken given his results this season. Mark King has not had a game yet after a last 64 walkover, and he comes in to a difficult opponent in Dott who is in good touch at the moment so that will make life difficult for King. Murphy will not have things all his own way against O'Brien but he knows exactly what to expect there and will be well equipped if he can keep scoring well among the reds. 

Ricky Walden may have turned a corner by coming back to beat Alfie Burden in round one, but he faces another very tough match against Ben Woollaston who has looked in decent form over the last few weeks so I give him the edge in this one. Gilbert against Maflin looks like a heavy scoring clash where I expect some heavy hitting. Gilbert looked good with a 90 and a ton in round one and has come on nicely as a player in the last couple of years, so this presents an opportunity to have a good run this week. Keep your eyes on Mark Allen this week if he carries on scoring heavily, he has scored pretty nicely for the last year or so but has not necessarily had everything come together or get that bit of good fortune needed to have a really good run. If Liam Highfield can score well against Yu then he probably may well get a win against the odds there against a player who I think is quite hit and miss. Dominic Dale has quietly been going along but doing quite well and with that section opening up a little he could be just the man to take advantage. 

Finally, Gary Wilson is someone who I think could has grown in confidence in the last few months and is scoring really well at the moment so it would not surprise me at all if he sent another couple of higher ranked players packing before his week in India is over. Michael Holt will certainly provide tough opposition and all seven frames may be needed to separate these two. Given the form shown in round one and how he fought off Zhao Xintong, I would suggest that Higgins is here for the long haul this week and will certainly take some beating. 

All matches in the last 32 are played on Thursday over the best-of-7 frames with coverage continuing throughout the week on Eurosport Player.