Jack Lisowski is hoping to peak in time for the China Open and World Championship after booking his place in the last-16 at the Gibraltar Open. The 26-year-old made difficult work of his three best-of-seven matches on Saturday but he persevered to book his spot in the last-16. Lisowski made a positive start to the day in Gibraltar as he defeated Scotland’s world number 113 Ross Muir 4-0 but he was asked more questions in his following two encounters. Fellow Englishman Jamie O’Neill took him the distance in a tight match, which ended 4-3, before Iranian Soheil Vahedi also went close to causing an upset, although Lisowski again managed to edge to a 4-3 triumph.
The world number 35 now faces his toughest test at the event on Sunday after drawing Joe Perry in the last-16 but he feels his season is peaking at the right time as he looks ahead to the China Open and the World Championship next month. Lisowski said: “So far it has been good. It has been much better than last year and we’re getting towards China and the worlds, two of the biggest of tournaments.” “I’m hoping to kind of peak at the end and I’m just going to be practising as hard as I can for the next month and trying to get two good results there.”
Lisowski goes into the last-16 tie with a lot of pressure on his shoulders knowing that he must win the event outright to qualify for the lucrative Players Championship in Llandudno later this month.