ACCRINGTON'S Shokat Ali faces one of the biggest matches of his career in the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship at Preston Guild Hall tonight.

Ali is within one victory of a place in the televised stages which start on Saturday though first he must beat Grimsby's Dean Reynolds over 17 frames in a third round match which is played to a finish tomorrow.

"My match against Dean is just about the most important of my career as I have yet to make it to the TV stages of a BBC event," said Ali.

"This is also the last UK championship in Preston and it would be nice to finish off well here.

"I'll also enjoy playing over two days, that suits me fine."

Ali, who defeated Karl Payne 6-4 in the first round, then beat world number nine Alain Robidoux 9-3 in the second. He won the first five frames in which his highest breaks were a 72 and 59.

The French Canadian, whose cue was damaged beyond repair during the summer, stopped a possible whitewash by winning frame six. But the fact his only break of note was a modest 33 in frame seven - he lost it on the black - suggested the difficulty he is experiencing coming to terms with a new one.

Ali added: "Against Alain it was a very tactical game, the sort of match I prefer to be involved. Neither of us played particularly well and I was just glad to get it out of the way." That though, was of no concern to Ali who now confronts Reynolds, ranked 51, for the second time this season.

At Plymouth in August, Ali beat Reynolds 5-3 in the second round of the German Open and he later went on to qualify for the final stages in Bingen, near Frankfurt next month.

But in the Dubai Duty Free Classic three years ago, Reynolds in a qualifying round, defeated Ali 5-1.

Veteran Dennis Taylor, at 48 the oldest player in the tournament, rolled back the years to reach the third round last night.

Taylor, the 1985 world champion, defeated Steve James 9-5 and today starts out against fourth seed Mark Williams for a place in the televised stages which begin on Saturday.

After six times UK champion, Steve Davis had been thrashed 9-2 by the unknown Gerard Greene, Taylor was in no mood to join him among yesterday's casualties.

The Blackburn-based Irishman led 3-1, but was all square at 4-4 at the end of the opening session. He then stepped up the pace to win five of the last six frames recording top breaks of 79, 53 and 37.

Taylor afterwards admitted to watching videos of the 1985 Canadian Masters final in which he defeated Davis 9-5.

"I don't usually watch videos like that, but over the last couple of days I've tuned in to the final in which I recorded four centuries and hardly missed a ball, several times. The thought of that match certainly spurred me on out there against Steve (James).

"It was just the inspiration I needed," added Taylor whose match with Williams ends tomorrow.

Taylor, a professional for 26 years, is ranked 34 this season in which his main aim is to return to the top 32.

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