• UK Championship

Higgins hoping for career kick-start

John Higgins is through to the second round of a ranking event for the first time in five months © Getty Images

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John Higgins says he still has a competitive desire to win and hopes a run at the UK Championship can give his career the kick-start it desperately needs.

Higgins cruised to a 6-2 win over Lee Walker at the Barbican Centre in York on Wednesday - his first victory in the main draw of a full-ranking event since July - thanks to top runs of 80 and 54 on his way to a place in the last 64.

"As you get older, you don't know if a win can kick-start you playing well again," Higgins, who won the UK Championship in 1998, 2000 and 2010, told the World Snooker official website.

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"I'm hoping that happens though and then I can try and do something because I haven't done a lot in the last two or three years.

"Most of my career has been up and down. I've had a few tough spells and a few good spells. Obviously I'm still trying through this bad spell and the competitive desire is still there the same as always.

"This week is important for me because I think if results go against me, I probably won't still be in the Masters and that would be a big blow. Normally it's taken for granted that I'm in the Masters but I don't deserve to be there if you're not winning matches."

Another former UK champion, Matthew Stevens, is also into the last 64 following a 6-2 win over Liverpool's Allan Taylor that included a highest run of 132.

In the afternoon session, 1992 champion Jimmy White eased past Dave Harold 6-2, while Ding Junhui, Matthew Selt and James Cahill dished out 6-0 whitewash thrashings to John Sutton, Hammad Miah and Mark King respectively.

In the evening session, reigning world champion Mark Selby also cruised into the last 64 with a 6-0 win over Oliver Brown, while six-time champion Steve Davis fell 6-2 to Ricky Walden. Davis has not progressed past the first round since reaching the quarter-finals in 2006.

UK Championship day two results:

Anthony McGill 6-4 Michael Gergiou
John Higgins 6-2 Lee Walker
Jamie Cope 6-2 John Astley
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Allan Taylor
Gerard Green 6-2 Vinnie Calabrese
Xiao Guodong 6-1 Ian Glover
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Michael Wasley
Martin Gould 6-4 Lee Page Matthew Selt 6-0 Hammad Miah
Dominic Dale 4-6 Tony Drago
Ding Junhui 6-0 John Sutton
Jimmy White 6-2 Dave Harold
Mark King 0-6 James Cahill
Andrew Higginson 6-3 Tian Pengfei
Mike Dunn 6-2 Andrew Pagett
Ricky Walden 6-2 Steve Davis
Mark Selby 6-0 Oliver Brown
Ryan Day 6-1 Lyu Chenwei

Evening session results will appear here…

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