World number one Mark Selby was a 4-1 victor against Anthony Hamilton, as he booked his last 64-spot at the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.

The Jester is coming off back-to-back losses to Neil Robertson in his previous two tournaments, including at last week’s Champion of Champions event despite Selby firing in an early 147 maximum break.

Selby compiled breaks of 85 and 122 on the way to the win over Hamilton and will now face Jimmy Robertson, who has already won his first career ranking tournament this season.

Seeing off Hamilton was a positive start in Belfast for the three-time world champion.

“It was always going to be a tough game, which I knew it would be. I got off to a good start winning the first two frames and that sort of settled me down for the rest of the match,” Selby told World Snooker.

“Last season wasn’t great for me, even though I won two tournaments. I struggled in a lot of the major events, I didn’t play well in them. This season I’ve been putting in the hard work and it has shown in patches.”

Selby has not won a tournament in Britain since the 2017 World Championship, with his last three successes coming in China.

He wants to end that run, and has already got one eye on next month’s UK Championship in York – the first Triple Crown event of the season.

“It’d be nice [to win in Britain again], but it’s really tough at the moment. The standard is as high as it’s ever been,” he added.

“I’m looking forward to [the UK Championship]. Last year was a bit of a disappointment for me. Scott [Donaldson] played fantastic in the second round to put me out, so hopefully looking to do a lot better his year. All I can do is put in the hard work and see what happens.”

Selby is 6.00 second-favourite to win the Northern Ireland Open this week, behind Ronnie O’Sullivan at 3.20.