World champion Sean Murphy advanced to the last 16 stage being played today after beating promising Mark Allen 5-2 yesterday.

Though displaying almost nothing of his great skills, Murphy was steadier than his opponent to advance to the next round.

Former world champion Steve Davis was also eliminated from the tournament as he lost a cliffhanger match against Robin Hull 5-4.

It was a match in which Hull led from start to finish. In fact Davis fought back from a first session 3-1 deficit to level at 3-3 and then at 4-4, before finally surrendering to Hull.

Also through was Stuart Bingham who defeated Peter Ebdon 5-4 in another tight encounter where Ebdon raced into a 3-0 lead to suffer the strong return by Bingham.

In other matches, Ken Doherty defeated Joe Swail

5-3 and that included the day’s highest break – a 133 – from Doherty, while Mark King also advanced with a steady performance against Ian McCulloch, winning comfortably 5-2.

Other century breaks registered yesterday were a 104 by Swail and a 129 by Bingham.

In the evening session, Barry Hawkins and Graeme Dott also clinched victories to reach the round of 16. Hawkins defeated Jimmy White 5-2, while Dott obtained the same scoreline in beating John Parrott. In another match, Barry Pinches was leading Stephen Lee at the end of the first session.