Bai Yulu became the first woman this century to win back-to-back matches in a ranking event by beating Jamies Jones 6-4 in the second qualifying round of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship.
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China’s 21-year-old Bai beat Farakh Ajaib in the opening round on Saturday, and followed up with a superb victory over world number 54 Jones. She compiled breaks of 70, 58, 56 and 68 as she became the first woman to win consecutive matches in a ranking event since Kelly Fisher in the pre-qualifying rounds of the 1999 World Championship.
World Women’s Champion Bai is playing on the pro tour for the first time this season and had not won a match before this week, but is now just two more wins away from the final stages. She will face Scott Donaldson next on Tuesday morning.
Jimmy White got his campaign underway with a 6-2 win over amateur Paul Deaville. The Whirlwind first turned professional 44 years ago, but is still competing at the top level at the age of 62. The ten-time ranking event winner ran the qualifying gauntlet to make the final stages in 2022 and will be hoping to do the same this week.
Breaks of 55 and 78 helped White to victory today. He now progresses to the second round, where he will face Scotland’s Ross Muir on Monday afternoon.
Leicester’s Louis Heathcote came through with a 6-0 demolition of the UAE’s Mohamed Shehab. Heathcote crafted runs of 52, 60, 57 and 59 in the win and now faces Ryan Day in round three.
Latvian Artemijs Zizins beat David Grace 6-3, while Ashley Carty beat Iulian Boiko 6-4. They now play Stephen Maguire and Wu Yize respectively.
Article by WST.
