Change is right on cue for Mark Joyce

A first round defeat to Dominic Dale at the Northern Ireland Open earlier this month had prompted the 37-year-old to reverse a decision to shorten his cue length, and reverting to type paid off with aplomb as he eased past his world No.72 opponent.

Joyce raced into a 2-0 lead before being pegged back by Sharav despite notching a half-century in the third, before quickly responding with another break over 50 and comfortably seeing out the contest.

A two-time UK Championship quarter-finalist – in 2010 and 2017 – Joyce’s latest victory means he has equalled his best performance at the tournament since his run to the last eight three years ago, and he will hope to go one better against Kyren Wilson next time out.

While Joyce can take plenty of encouragement from his latest showing, he’ll be aware of the threats posed by a player ranked 55 places higher than him in the world rankings, while Wilson also made a maximum 147 break in his Round 1 win over Ashley Hugill.

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