GLASWEIGAN Jamie Burnett secured his safe passage through to the second round of snooker's illustrious Betway UK Championship with a deadly display.
The 40-year-old, from Hamilton, was in fine form as he constructed six half-century breaks in beating Englishman Sanderson Lam 6-1 at York's Barbican Centre.
But despite the dominant scoreline against the first-year professional, Burnett believes there are no longer any easy games as the sport continues to grow.
“The young lads at the start of their career there's no fear in them at all,” said Burnett.
“There's no fear factor at all, you can't really bully players the way you maybe used to be able to, the way some of the top players do.
“They go for everything and it doesn't matter who they're playing.”
After taking a scrappy opener the Scot settled into his stride, with breaks of 94 and 66 opening up a three-frame cushion.
But despite Burnett making a 51 in the fourth, Lam just edged it to reduce the deficit heading into the mid-session interval.
It was the only frame that the first-year professional won, as Burnett came flying out of the blocks after the break, notching 67 and 68 before signing off in style with a superb century break of 111.
He faces the winner of the all-Scottish showdown between veteran Alan McManus and rookie Eden Sharav.
“I played Eden at the start of the season and I won that one, he struggled a bit against me,” Burnett added.
“I haven't played Alan in a while. It will be a tough match whoever I play.”
Glasgow potter Fraser Patrick fell at the first hurdle, losing 6-4 to Englishman Michael Holt.
Patrick powered into a two-frame lead with a top break of 95, but the 'Hitman' reeled off five frames in a row to go within one of victory.
The Scot scored 41 and 47 to get himself back in contention, but Holt finished him off with a 57 to reach round two.
Bonnyrigg's Michael Leslie had a miserable morning as he was on the receiving end of a 6-0 whitewash at the hands of Gerard Greene.
The Northern Irishman slammed in a century as well as runs of 68, 93 and 78 to storm into the second round.
Edinburgh's Ross Muir made the second round of a ranking event for the first time with a gutsy 6-5 victory over former top 16 star Mark King.
The lead changed hands a number of times, but the 20-year-old forced a final frame decider with a brilliant break of 59, and kept his composure to clinch one of the best wins of his career.
He faces Ben Woollaston or Steven Hallworth in the second round.
Meanwhile, two-time UK champion Ding Junhui is facing disciplinary action after an expletive-laden rant following his shock first round exit to amateur Adam Duffy.
The Chinese star flew into a foul-mouthed outburst about the table and playing conditions in his post-match press conference after being beaten 6-2 by the part-time builder.
Two-time UK champion Mark Williams admitted his game “could have gone either way” after he survived a fightback from Pakistan's Hamza Akbar.
The Welshman led 4-0 and 5-2 as Akbar kept coming back at him, but a 50 break in the tenth frame secured a 6-4 win.
Fellow former world and UK champions Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon soared into the second round in York with 6-1 and 6-0 wins respectively.
Glaswegian Stephen Maguire, the 2004 UK champion, is in first round action today as he takes on fans' favourite Jimmy White in a mouthwatering match-up, whilst compatriot Graeme Dott, the 2006 world champion, goes up against Nigel Bond.
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