Barry Hawkins was suitably satisfied with his latest performance at the UK Championship, having swept aside Robbie Williams to earn a place in the third round.

The former World Championship and Masters runner-up had cruised through his tournament opener against Riley Parsons 6-1, and he matched that scoreline on his second outing at the Marshall Arena.

The Hawk raced into a 3-0 lead with three half-centuries in tow, before Williams pulled a frame back ahead of the mid-session interval.

But three more frames on the trot secured a comfortable win for world No.21 Hawkins, who admitted he was expecting a tougher match-up against an opponent who had knocked out former UK Championship semi-finalist Mark Davis in Round 1.

“I’m pleased with that performance, I think I was pretty solid overall,” said the 41-year-old.

“I didn’t give him much chance in the first three frames, I scored every time he made a mistake and I didn’t make too many mistakes myself.

“The fourth frame was a bit scrappy – we both missed a few chances and I was kicking myself a bit in the interval.

“But I came out afterwards and punished him. I was maybe expecting a harder match but you never know how it’s going to pan out and it was up to me to make the most of my chances.”

A three-time ranking event winner, Hawkins is bidding to go one further than his previous best quarter-finals finish at the first Triple Crown event of the snooker season, which is temporarily being held behind closed doors in Milton Keynes due to Covid-19 restrictions.

A clash against world No.51 Robert Milkins awaits next for Hawkins with a place in the last 16 at stake, and the Ditton potter is itching for another good win to aid his bid of regaining a spot in the world’s top 16.

He added: “Some players perhaps feel there’s a little less pressure without the fans, but the UK Championship brings its own pressure anyway. There’s a lot of money at stake and everyone wants to do well.

“I’ve known Robert for a long time, he’s a dangerous player and I was having a sneaky look over at him between my frames and he looked like he was scoring well.

“But I’ll treat it like any other match and I’ll just concentrate on my own game. Hopefully I can find a bit of form and start getting some results again.”

Elsewhere, Gerard Greene’s run at the competition came to an end at the hands of four-time world champion John Higgins, with the 47-year-old going down 6-3 after having beaten Daniel Wells in the first round.

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