John Higgins has booked his place in the main draw for next month’s China Championship after thrashing Duane Jones 5-1 in qualifying on Tuesday.

The four-time world champion certainly knows what it takes to succeed in the tournament, winning the inaugural event back in 2016 and he had no problem in disposing of world number 79 Jones, sealing the win with an impressive break of 109.

The China Championship is Higgins’ first tournament of the new season and it also marks his return to competitive action for the first time since losing last season’s World Championship final to Mark Williams.

The 43-year-old, who is priced as 10.00 to win the World Championship this season, was not the only familiar face to book his place in the China Championship main draw, as fellow Scot Anthony McGill has also made it through.

McGill beat Joe Swail 5-3 to seal his place in the main draw and he will be hoping that victory can kick-start what has been a slow opening to the campaign for the 27-year-old, as he has failed to make it beyond the first round of any ranking event so far this season.

Other notable winners on Tuesday were World Open finalist David Gilbert, who continued his fine start to the season by whitewashing Kishan Hirani 5-0, while former World Championship finalist Barry Hawkins won by the same scoreline against Simon Lichtenberg.

Peter Ebdon was less emphatic in his victory over tour rookie Harvey Chandler, but the 2002 world champion eventually came through 5-3, as did Michael White in his triumph over Oliver Lines.