Barry Hawkins is targeting another strong showing at the Welsh Open after cruising through his early rounds.

The Hawk eased past Chris Wakelin 4-1 in his first-round clash before whitewashing Simon Lichtenberg after consecutive breaks of 82 and 124 in Newport.

The Ditton potter, who was a beaten finalist in this event in 2018 and has twice reached the last four, will take on Anthony McGill – ranked just one place higher than the world No.17 - in the third round.

“It’s only early doors so if I can get through another couple of rounds, you get in the thick of it then,” he said.

“I’m just trying to concentrate on my own game, do everything right and string some wins together.

“I played the Championship League last week against some quality opponents, which made a nice change - we are lucky to be able to practice but it gets a bit boring on your own, so it’s nice to play against people.”

Hawkins is also enjoying the variation in venue, with Celtic Manor staging the first event of the season to be played outside Milton Keynes.

“It’s beautiful and it’s nice to see somewhere that’s not Milton Keynes,” he said.

“The drive’s a bit longer but I didn’t mind that and the tables played alright, I have no complaints there.

“All the ranking tournaments are important and it would be nice to have a deep run in this again.

“Ideally, I’ll still be here on Sunday – that would be amazing. But there’s a long way to go and I’ll just keep trying to sneak through.”

Watch the Welsh Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport app

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