Mackenzie routs holt

Scott Mackenzie completed a 9-0 whitewash of hapless Michael Holt in the Maplin UK Championship and revealed he had smelled blood as early as the fifth frame.

The 26-year-old from Renfrewshire set up a second-round meeting with world champion Graeme Dott by potting his fiery opponent into submission in their best-of-17 clash at the Barbican Centre in York.

After surging 3-0 ahead with breaks of 65 and 109, Mackenzie watched Holt, who he knew had a reputation for “losing the plot”, self-destruct and hand him the next two frames on a plate.

The 28-year-old, who was docked a frame for swearing at last year’s event, smashed open the pack in the final frame of the session.

Mackenzie took no time to complete the whitewash and was delighted to do so.

“Any win I would’ve taken, but obviously it’s a good confidence-booster,” said the world number 59.

“I’ve never really played that well at a venue so it was good to play like that at a venue.

“First three frames, I never really gave him a sniff, and then fourth frame it was his own fault.

“I would say after the fifth frame, that’s when I knew he was gone. I was told if you get on top of him early he can do that so it was important to get off to a good start.

“Eighth frame it was his break and he smashed the pack. I think he’d had enough and just wanted to get out of there.”

Mackenzie was unfazed by Holt’s antics, adding: “I was told he can lose the plot but he wasn’t as bad as I thought he would be.”

Having come through qualifying, Mackenzie will have reached the last 16 of a ranking tournament for only the second time in his career if he beats Dott.

He has been putting in the extra hours to ensure he can compete with the reigning world champion.

“Every day I’ve practised with either John Higgins or Stephen Maguire,” he said.

“I’ve not really been playing them as much as I should but I just decided to get as much practice with them as I could.

“Don’t get me wrong. I was picking out balls most of the time, but I suppose when you play them two, you can’t really get much harder than that.”

Mackenzie has known Dott, whom he has yet to face professionally, since he was “nine or 10 years old”.

He said: “He plays in the same club. We’ve had a couple of games but not many.

“Apart from playing Stephen Maguire, it’s the biggest game I can get because I’ve grown up with Graeme since I was a junior.”