Some argued that Oliver Lines was lucky against Judd Trump the other night when he claimed a famous victory over the world No.3 in the last 32. Granted, Trump didn’t fire on all cylinders but the 21 year old, Lines, from just outside Leeds took advantage of Trumps poor form to win one of the biggest matches of his career.
High in confidence, the youngster had to put aside his glory from the other night and regroup to play Jimmy Robertson today in the last 32 of this prestigious event, something some other players find difficulty in.
Lines came out today and once again played wonderful snooker. Breaks of 91, 51, 67 and 72 along with other smaller breaks was enough to claim a whitewash victory over Robertson.
Now, as Lines is coming close to the latter stages of big snooker events, the pressure will start to mount. Some players relish under the pressure, while other collapse.
We haven’t seen much of Oliver Lines on the main match tables in his short career so far, but judging by what we seen the other night against Trump, this kid could be the next superstar to rise high in the rankings.
Oliver’s father, Peter, was knocked out of the UK Championship last night.
Lines will now face Hong Kong’s, Marco Fu in the last 16.
Fu really struggled to get himself over the line last night against Mei Xiwen by beating him 6-4. In reality, Fu was very lucky to come out the winner in that match after a somewhat scrappy snooker match.
We all know how good a snooker player Marco Fu is, but if he’s as inconsistant as he was last night against Mei, then Oliver Lines is in with a really good shout at winning the match.