Scottish Open Snooker 2021 | Day Three Preview and Order of Play
Selby was beaten by world number 40 Highfield (Photo by PA Images)
Mark Selby resumes his quest to complete a hat-trick of Scottish Open titles when he plays Xiao Guodong in round three on Wednesday.
The Jester have never lost a match in this Home Nations event, lifting the trophy in 2019 and 2020.
Indeed, the World champion made it 16 successive wins by coming from behind to defeat Oliver Lines 4-1 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Tuesday.
The world number one is still waiting for his season to truly click into gear, with runs to the last 16 of the Northern Ireland Open and English Open representing his best performances so far.
Having also suffered an early exit at the UK Championship, Selby looks to continue to build momentum against world number 30 Xiao, who made a 147 in qualifying for the event.
Elsewhere, Ronnie O’Sullivan takes on former English Open winner Liang Wenbo fresh from defeating Michael Georgiou in just 37 minutes in the second round, while Judd Trump’s quest for a fifth Home Nations title continues against Craig Steadman.
Runner-up at this event in 2016, John Higgins’ mission to go the extra step resumes against Noppon Saengkham, as compatriot Stephen Maguire collides with Tom Ford.
Having survived a huge scare against three-time Ladies World champion Ng On Yee, Shaun Murphy will hope to endure much smoother proceedings against Li Hang.
There are two other top-16 players in action with Masters champion Yan Bingtao facing Hammad Miah, as Anthony McGill plays Jimmy Robertson who, with 178, set a new record for the most points scored by a player in a single frame during his win over Lee Walker.
UK Championship finalist Luca Brecel faces a potential banana skin in Pang Junxu, who whitewashed Barry Hawkins 4-0 in the opening round, while British Open runner-up Gary Wilson takes on Fergal O’Brien.
Former Crucible king Ken Doherty goes up against Xu Si as former German Masters champion Martin Gould locks horns with Welsh Open winner Jordan Brown.
Play gets underway at 10am GMT on Wednesday with all matches contested over the best of seven frames at Venue Cymru in Llandudno.
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Scottish Open Snooker 2021 Schedule
Wednesday December 8
Second Round
10am
39 Xu Si v Ken Doherty
40 Mark King v Martin O’Donell
41 Hossein Vafaei v Wu Yize
46 Martin Gould v Jordan Brown
1pm
43 John Higgins v Noppon Saengkham
45 Zhang Anda v Mitchell Mann
48 Yan Bingtao v Hammad Miah
49 Michael Holt v David Lilley
2pm
42 Shaun Murphy v Li Hang
50 Judd Trump v Craig Steadman
7pm
53 Stephen Maguire v Tom Ford
54 Ben Woollaston v Lei Peifan
55 Gary Wilson v Fergal O’Brien
59 Ronnie O’Sullivan v Liang Wenbo
8pm
51 Mark Selby v Xiao Guodong
52 Anthony McGill v Jimmy Robertson
56 Luca Brecel v Pang Junxu
60 Jamie Jones v Sam Craigie