Lisowski strolls past Brecel to kick-start Masters campaign

Lisowski raced into a 4-0 lead by the interval thanks to three 50-plus breaks and a century to put the Belgian Bullet in a spot of bother. 

The second seed Brecel did respond with two frames of his own, but the fightback proved short-lived he dropped the final two to breaks of 63 and 68 to set up a quarter-final against Shaun Murphy, who beat Zhang Anda 6-2 in the later tie.

"I felt great," Lisowski told the BBC after securing the victory. "You never know what it's going to be like coming out here, I started well straight away and felt like I couldn't miss. Just in rhythm, had a bit of luck at the end, a really good break, brilliant."

Lisowski has endured a difficult campaign so far but a run to the final of an exhibition event in Macau over Christmas has proved to be the perfect tonic, something which he believes has helped his form.

"I think I found something in China," he continued. "Thank god because I was really struggling. I was really scared to come here today, to be honest, because I didn't know what Jack was going to turn up. I felt great, so I think something happened in China.

"You can get really nervous coming into this, for me it's the scariest tournament to play in and I just started well and it turned into a great place to play, I started enjoying it."