The home favourite delighted his army of fans with an impressive 4-0 whitewash win over world champion Zhao Xintong on the opening day at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast
Local hero Jordan Brown revealed he hit rock bottom ahead of kicking off the Northern Ireland Open in style. The former Welsh Open champion, 38, reached an all-time low with his game after a sorry spell on the baize in recent years. But the inspired home favourite delighted his army of fans with an impressive 4-0 whitewash win over world champion Zhao Xintong on the opening day at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
“It’s been difficult,” admitted Brown after his morale-boosting victory. “You’re trying to get yourself out of a rut, every player has gone through it. Things haven’t been great on and off the table. Up until last night I was actually dreading going out there but my family picked me up.
“I’m a confidence player and when that goes everything goes. It’s just not easy. I’ve been watching videos of myself in good times, at the Welsh and matches I’ve won to remind myself that I can play this game.
“I had a lot of texts and a lot of friends and family coming here. It was nice to show a bit of form because I haven’t been showing it recently and what better place to start? There’s no better place to do it than here. I had fantastic support out there. I haven’t given them much to shout about recently and it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Antrim Ferrari Brown beat Ronnie O’Sullivan to win his maiden ranking title at the Welsh Open in 2021. But there are fears he could drop off the professional circuit after a couple of years in the doldrums.
Brown has slumped in the rankings and is provisionally 65th at the end of the season, with only the top 64 staying on the tour. “Hopefully this is the start,” added Brown. “I don’t want to just beat the world champion and that’s the story of the week. I want to continue, I want to build on it and if I show the form I did out there there’s no reason I can’t go on a deep run.
“It can turn around, it has to start somewhere. Personally there’s only so much you can take because mentally it does drain you and you’re questioning your future. To have a bad run like this isn’t very pleasant, but there’s no reason I can’t go on a run this week, I just need to believe in myself.”
Meanwhile, four-time world champion Mark Selby kicked off his title charge with a 4-1 win over Ian Burns. Home hero Mark Allen, champion in 2021 and 2022, begins his bid for a hat-trick of Alex Higgins’ trophies on Monday night against Rob Wilkins.
Cork cueman Aaron Hill is in action on Monday against Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan.
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