English Open Snooker 2021 | Day Three Preview and Order of Play
O’Sullivan is targeting a 39th ranking title (Photo by George Wood/PA Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan headlines the action on day three of the English Open as he takes on Michael Georgiou at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
O’Sullivan lifted the Steve Davis trophy in 2017 following a thumping 9-2 victory over Kyren Wilson in the final, while he was also a semi-finalist 12 months later – succumbing 6-1 to an inspired Mark Davis.
The Rocket is still waiting for his season to lift-off having exited the Northern Ireland Open in the last 32, as well as suffering a 5-0 whitewash against Hossein Vafaei in the German Masters qualifiers.
The six-time World champion made a strong start in this event; breaks of 65, 58, 80 and 100 sealing a 4-1 win over David Lilley.
And he will be hoping for more of the same on Wednesday against former Shootout winner Georgiou, who has beaten in all three of their previous meetings.
Elsewhere, round three commences with reigning champion Judd Trump resuming his title defence and seeking a 10th straight win in this event against Steven Hallworth.
Former finalists Wilson (2017) and Neil Robertson (2020) continue their quests to go one step better against Ben Woollaston and Sunny Akani respectively, while Barry Hawkins takes on Robbie Williams and Anthony McGill faces Ross Muir.
Aiming to join them in the last 32 are Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui and Yan Bingtao – all of whom have never progressed beyond the fourth round of this event.
Murphy faces Joe O’Connor and Ding locks horns with Tian Pengfei, as Masters champion Yan plays veteran Nigel Bond.
The in-form David Gilbert looks to continue his strong start to the season which has brought a maiden ranking title at the Championship League, and a further two quarter-finals.
The 2019 English Open finalist faces Martin O’Donnell, while two-time Crucible runner-up Ali Carter takes on Li Hang.
Play gets underway at 10am GMT on Wednesday with all matches contested over the best of seven frames at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
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English Open 2021 Day Three Schedule
Wednesday November 3
Last 64
10am
35 Rory McLeod v Anthony Hamilton
38 Li Hang v Ali Carter
40 Fraser Patrick v Hossein Vafaei
47 Nigel Bond v Yan Bingtao
1pm
37 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Peter Devlin
41 Joe O’Connor v Shaun Murphy
43 Lu Ning w/o Allan Taylor
44 Ding Junhui v Tian Pengfei
2pm
34 Ronnie O’Sullivan v Michael Georgiou
39 Stuart Carrington v Luca Brecel
45 Martin Gould v Scott Donaldson
46 Martin O’Donnell v David Gilbert
Last 32
7pm
51 Anthony McGill v Ross Muir
52 Tom Ford v Mark King
56 Mark Davis v Fergal O’Brien
57 Neil Robertson v Sunny Akani
8pm
50 Judd Trump v Steven Hallworth
53 Zhao Xintong v Paul Deaville
54 Kyren Wilson v Ben Woollaston
55 Barry Hawkins v Robbie Williams