Selby Quick to Make His Mark in Premier League

Mark Selby, the Masters champion who has prepared seriously for his debut in snooker's Premier League, where a 25 seconds time limit per shot is in force, played at the appreciably quicker pace he had adopted in beating Andrew Higginson 5-1 to reach the last 16 of the Northern Ireland trophy at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast.

Selby made breaks of 73, 50, 89 and 50 while Higginson produced little of the form which made him the surprise runner-up in the Welsh Open 18 months ago. Afterwards Selby said: "I want to win more tournaments this season and stay in the top four - and maybe get closer to the No1 spot."

Allister Carter, runner-up at The Crucible last spring, also won confidently with a 5-1 win over Rory McLeod but the 5-2 defeat of Marco Fu, whose defence of the grand prix title is due in October, by Barry Hawkins meant that seven of the first 11 matches of the round had produced defeats for top 16 players.