Rookie Mitchell has eye on bright future

Mitchell, one of seven amateurs in this year’s UK draw in York, fell at the first hurdle against the Australian, eventually losing 6-0.

However the 18-year-old was not convinced the scoreline accurately reflected the contest and he is already excited about returning for another crack next year.

“I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be,” said Mitchell. “I think I expected so much more, so then it wasn’t as bad – but it was obviously nervy.

“I wasn’t fazed – it’s a good venue to play. I’ll definitely come back and hopefully have a good season this year in the other qualifiers.

“It was closer than the 6-0 I thought. I had my chances but I just didn’t take them really. That’s the difference at this level.

“I’ve learned you need to take your chances because you are only going to get one or two chances at this level – maybe you don’t even get a single chance so you’ve just got to take your chance when it comes.”

Elsewhere, Pickering’s Paul Davison suffered a 6-3 second-round defeat to former world champion Shaun Murphy, despite getting off to a flyer.

The 42-year-old – who trains in York – moved into an early 3-0 lead but Murphy flew back into the contest and won six straight frames to clinch the victory.

And Davison, who had been delighted to see a host of friends and family supporting him during his first-round win over Gerard Greene, was unimpressed with how his cheering section was treated this time around.

“He played as good a four frames as you will see this week there,” he said. “He played faultless snooker after the interval. I don’t think I did too much wrong.

“I’m gutted that I have lost it from 3-0 up but it is probably more that he has won it than I have lost it. It is not as though I’ve thrown it away.

“Apparently the security told my friends to be quiet, which I was a bit disappointed with. Everybody seemed to be cheering for Shaun Murphy and the other guys on the next table. They didn’t tell anyone else to be quiet.”

Elsewhere, John Higgins beat Rod Lawler 6-1, Matthew Stevens edged out Yu Delu 6-5, Judd Trump thrashed Dechawat Poomjaeng 6-0.

Jimmy White lost to Stuart Bingham 6-2. An emotional White admitted: “I was terrible. I was nervous, I couldn’t settle and I made unforced errors, it was frustrating.”

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