UK Championship: Neil Robertson cruises into third round
Neil Robertson hit the high notes during a 6-1 win against Robbie Williams in the second round of the UK Championship.
Last Updated: 02/12/13 7:06pm
The Australian beat Robbie Williams 6-1 to set up a clash with China's Li Hang.
Robertson swept the frames before the interval, helped by breaks of 64 and 53, as Williams struggled to settle.
The Wirral left-hander at least got on the board in the first frame after the interval, but breaks of 119 and 90 from Robertson rendered it academic.
Robertson said: "I got through nice and quick, that was my goal.
"I gave him some chances early on but in some ways that can be good with players who haven't had too much TV exposure because they can beat themselves up, and that's what he did.
"He pegged a frame back but I made 90 and 100 the last two, so I'm happy to get through."
English trio Stuart Bingham, Barry Hawkins and Joe Perry all reached the fourth round.
Bingham opened up a 2-0 lead over Anthony McGill with breaks of 90 and 76 and though McGill pulled one back, Bingham made 54 in the fourth and took it following a tussle on the green.
A 74 in the fifth frame and 99 in the eighth helped him complete a 6-2 win.
Taxi for Wilson
Hawkins ended the run of Newcastle's Gary Wilson, who will return to his day job as a taxi driver at least until late January.
Wilson won an opening frame in which both players had chances but Hawkins levelled and breaks of 80 and 52 put him in control by the interval.
He returned with 88 and 77 but Wilson pegged him back with three successive half-centuries before Hawkins eventually pulled through.
Perry advanced with a 6-3 success over Scott Donaldson, while amateur Mitchell Travis followed up his opening upset of world number six Marco Fu with a 6-4 second-round win over Norway's Kurt Maflin.
Critical
John Higgins beat fellow Scot Jamie Burnett 6-4. A 92 in the penultimate frame was Higgins' only break of note but he found enough resolve to outlast Burnett, who won his four frames with breaks of 105, 52, 82 and 57.
Mark Selby came from 3-1 down for the second game in succession to beat China's Tian Pengfei 6-3.
Tian made 64 in frame two and 49 to steal the frame before the interval by a point, but Selby reeled off five frames in a row with breaks of 116, 58 and 59
Shaun Murphy briefly fell behind in his third-round match with Noppon Saengkham but ultimately came through 6-2.
The 'Magician' made breaks of 105, 69, 61 and 56 to set up a clash with Barry Hawkins.