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Lisowski strolls past Brecel to kick start Masters campaign, Murphy awaits

Updated
Jack Lisowski of England plays a shot during his match against Luca Brecel of Belgium
Jack Lisowski of England plays a shot during his match against Luca Brecel of BelgiumAFP
Jack Lisowski (32) opened up the Masters with a commanding 6-2 win over world champion Luca Brecel (28) at Alexandra Palace.

Lisowski raced into a 4-0 lead by the interval thanks to three 50-plus breaks and a century to put the Belgian Bullet in a spot of bother.

The second seed Brecel did respond with two frames of his own, but the fightback proved short-lived he dropped the final two to breaks of 63 and 68 to set up a quarter-final against Shaun Murphy or Zhang Anda.

"I felt great," Lisowski told the BBC after securing the victory. "You never know what it's going to be like coming out here, I started well straight away and felt like I couldn't miss. Just in rhythm, had a bit of luck at the end, a really good break, brilliant."

Lisowski has endured a difficult campaign so far but a run to the final of an exhibition event in Macau over Christmas has proved to be the perfect tonic, something which he believes has helped his form.

"I think I found something in China," he continued. "Thank god because I was really struggling. I was really scared to come here today, to be honest, because I didn't know what Jack was going to turn up. I felt great, so I think something happened in China.

"You can get really nervous coming into this, for me it's the scariest tournament to play in and I just started well and it turned into a great place to play, I started enjoying it."

Murphy progresses

In the second match of the day, world number six Shaun Murphy (41) eased past China’s Zhang Anda (32) 6-2.

Murphy and Lisowski will face off in the quarter-finals.