Welsh Open exit is hard to swallow for Ian

Preston's Ian Burns was beaten in Cardiff

The Preston potter led Belgium’s Luca Brecel 3-1 at the Motorpoint Arena before losing 4-3 to exit at the first-round stage.

By his own admission, Burns had chances to triumph and book a second-round tie with Mark King on Tuesday.

And he could not hide his disappointment at not seeing off one of the rising stars of the game.

“What can you say? I played well early on to go 3-1 up but I missed a chance at 3-2 to win it and then after that it was hard work,” said Burns.

“I had chances in the last frame but I was a little bit twitchy on a few shots and missed them.

“I should have won really. It’s tough to take and very disappointing.

“I definitely felt it was a good chance for me to win today but only have myself to blame for missing chances.

“I can’t put it down to bad luck or anything like that, I’ve just missed a few balls.

“It’s all well and good playing well to 3-1 up but it’s the first to four, not three.”

The Welsh Open is being shown live on Eurosport all week and Eurosport’s expert line-up includes five-time world champion Ronnie ‘The Rocket’ O’Sullivan, six-time World Championship finalist Jimmy ‘The Whirlwind’ White, 1986 world champion Joe Johnson and former world No.3 Neal Foulds.

Burns’ campaign is now over, meaning he will turn his attention to the Gdynia Open next week where he faces Snooker Shoot-out champion Robin Hull in round one.

The 30-year-old has had some positive results in recent weeks, reaching the main draw for the German Masters and doing the same for the China Open.

And the world No.70 is feeling optimistic with the direction that his game is heading in.

“I feel like my game is in a good place and I’ve had some good results in recent weeks, especially the German Masters and qualifying for the China Open last week against Fergal O’Brien,” said Burns.

“I feel my game is good but there are just a couple of things I will work on before Poland and take it from there.”

Eurosport is the Home of Snooker, showing 19 tournaments per season, including the World Championship, UK Championship, Welsh Open and the Masters, as well as the exclusive series ‘The Ronnie O’Sullivan Show’.