Tony Drago notched his second win of the season last night after beating Indian player Shokat Ali 5-2 on the opening day of the 2006 Malta Cup at the Hilton Conference Centre in St Julians.

Drago's victory kept alive local interest in the tournament after earlier in the day Maltese wild cards Simon Zammit and Joe Grech were both ousted from the ranking event.

This evening, Drago will again be in action when he takes on Barry Pinches in another qualifier with the winner earning a Last 32 match against Stephen Lee.

Ali, a gold medal winner in the Asian Games, started brightly winning the opening frame. Drago quickly restored equilibrium by securing the second with a break of 61.

Ali was back in front after profiting from some erratic play from Drago. But the Maltese pro managed to regroup to win the fourth frame to go into the interval level at two-all.

Drago stepped up a gear on the resumption and opened a 4-2 advantage after winning the fifth frame 82-46 and the sixth 57-7, with a run of 50.

Ali kept fighting and looked set to win the seventh frame when he raced to a 51-0 lead. But Drago kept his cool and gradually managed to cancel the deficit and go on to win the frame 71-51 and the match 5-2.

"I'm really pleased with my performance today," Drago told reporters. "This was only my second win this season in a ranking event but certainly one of the best for a long time. I potted some fine shots but more importantly I feel that I did very well when I had to defend.

"Looking at my results this season, Maltese fans might have thought that Tony Drago is past his best. But this is certainly not the case and this week I want to prove to everybody that I'm still one of the top players in the game.

"My target is to at least reach the quarter-final stage, whatever comes after that will be a bonus. This is my last tournament this season in the Main Tour and I want to finish on a high."

Earlier in the day, Zammit and Grech bowed out of the tournament after losing to Robin Hull and Mark Allen respectively.

Hull is a familiar name for Maltese snooker as the Finn represented his country in various team competitions before, including the Continental Cup. Yesterday, the 31-year-old gave a strong indication of how far his game has grown with a solid performance on his way to a 5-2 victory over Zammit.

Hull took the opening two frames but bad positioning cost him the third frame that was easily won by Zammit. The world no. 59 soon recovered hitting an excellent 126 before winning the fifth frame to move one point away from victory.

Zammit got back in contention by winning the sixth frame with a break of 72 and looked set to bridge the gap even further when racing into a 36-0 lead in the seventh. But he failed to pot the pink and found himself snookered, a situation that paved the way for Hull to clear the table and seal his win.

"Hull is a good player but I could have done with some more luck," Zammit told The Times yesterday. "I was playing better in the second session but he was lucky to get a snooker out of nothing and then it was all over for me.

"But this was another great experience for me. I really enjoyed myself playing at the Hilton and hopefully I'll get more opportunities like this in future."

Grech failed to match the talents of 19-year-old Allen who hit breaks of 58 and 47 to lead 3-0 before the Hamrun veteran pulled one back before the break. However, any hopes of a recovery were soon ended by the 2004 European champion who comfortably took the next two frames which included his first century, a 104, in the fifth frame.

"It was a game of two halves," Allen said. "In the first part I wasn't as sharp as I would have wanted to. But then in the second session I started to play much better and luckily managed to close the game very quickly."

Allen will now face world champion Shaun Murphy.

"It's a very difficult match," Allen said. "Shaun is the world champion and one of the top players in the tour. I have to stay focused. I don't think I'll have a lot of chances so it's important that I make the most of them."

The first century of the tournament was potted by Alan McManus in his 5-2 win over Allister Carter. The Scot compiled a 100 in the third frame that enabled him to take the lead for the first time after losing the opening frame.

Carter sneaked the fourth frame but after the restart, McManus kept firm control winning the next three frames to set up a last 16 match against John Higgins.

"It was a bit of an edgy performance," McManus said. "Neither player played particularly well but in these kind of matches you have to be patient and luckily I managed to pot some important balls that helped me win the match.

"I'm pleased that I have finally won my first match in a ranking event this season and I hope that in the next couple of days my game will improve as I'm really keen to progress in this tournament to improve my ranking position."

Also in the evening session, Higgins was on the verge of a surprise elimination after he was trailing Robert Milkins 4-2. However, the world no. 6 managed to win the next three frames to book his place in the last 16.

Yesterday's results: M. Allen bt J. Grech 5-1; R. Hull bt S. Zammit 5-2; A. McManus bt A. Carter 5-2; T. Drago bt S. Ali 5-2; J. Higgins bt R. Milkins 5-4; D. Dale bt P. Hunter 5-3.

Playing today: 4 p.m. S. Hendry vs N. Robertson; J. Perry vs J. Wattana; M. Williams vs G. Greene. 8 p.m. T. Drago vs B. Pinches; M. Stevens vs N. Bond; S. Maguire vs M. Fu.

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