Higgins too strong for Parrott

John Higgins is looking for his fourth title in a row

John Higgins carried his stunning recent form into the LG Cup by thrashing John Parrott 5-1 in Preston on Monday.

The Scot became the first player in history to win the opening three tournaments of the season when he secured the British Open title last week.

And he fired in breaks of 114, 131 and 109 as he cruised past Parrott to secure a place in the last 16.

The result extends Higgins' winning run to 11 matches.

"Nothing is going wrong for me at the moment and it's a great feeling to have," said Higgins.

John Parrott had no answer to Higgins' form

"I suppose having a week off after Newcastle helped me but I haven't really practiced that much."

Higgins raced into a 4-0 lead at the interval and although Parrott pulled one frame back after the break, the Scot was not about to allow a fightback.

A break of 109 wrapped up victory and Higgins goes on to face Mark King, who he beat 6-0 in the semi-finals of the British Open two weeks ago.

Ronnie O'Sullivan wasted little time in getting past fellow countryman Jon Birch 5-0.

He took just over an hour to win the match and set up a potential meeting with Jimmy White in the next round.

Joe Swail also reached the last 16 after easing past former World Junior Champion Brian Morgan 5-1.

Scrappy Stevens

In Monday's later games, Graeme Dott, runner-up to Higgins at the British Open, eased into the third round with a 5-1 win over inexperienced Thai Phaitoon Phonbun.

"There's no way I was going to suffer any reaction to what happened up at Newcastle (against Higgins)," said Dott.

"I treat everyone with respect and give every match 100%. It doesn't matter how well known my opponent is."

The Scot, who caused one of the biggest upsets of the season by beating O'Sullivan in the British Open semi-finals, added: "I learned a lot from that and I just want to keep going along well."

In a scrappy encounter, world number six Matthew Stevens battled through with a 5-3 win over Londoner David Gray.

Stevens, recognised as the finest player still waiting to win a world ranking tournament, goes forward to face Swail.