AN IN-FORM Stuart Bingham says his morale hit rock bottom before rebounding to thrash Ricky Walden at the UK Snooker Championship and book his place in the quarter-finals.

Bingham took little solace from his 6-5 third-round victory against Joel Walker on Tuesday as the 20-year-old, who is ranked 105 in the world, nearly pulled off an upset against the veteran.

But Bingham was back among the balls against Walden – a man in form himself after bagging the International Championship last month.

The Vange-based potter stormed to a 6-0 win and as a potential quarter-final clash with reigning UK Champion Neil Robertson lies in wait, he admits some soul-searching did him no end of good.

“I was on the practice table even this morning, just before I went out. I wasn’t happy with the way I was hitting the ball and as soon as I got out there, I relaxed and took my chances," said Bingham, who is aiming to go one further than his semi-final showing at the tournament last year.

"I didn’t take any positives (from beating Walker), we went out for a meal last night and I was a bit doom and gloom really.

"But I had a chat with my coach, Steve Feeney, and he got me in a good frame of mind just before I went out.

“I think it was one of those days for Ricky – potting good balls and landing on nothing. But any time you beat him it’s a good win.

“You could see he was struggling and I played him in the Champions of Champions last year and beat him 4-0, everything that he was trying was going wrong and a few of the things I was doing were going right.”

But even though his performance against Walden will doubtless turn heads, Bingham is wary that either Robertson or his fourth-round opponent, Graeme Dott, can catch him out.

“I still need to improve even though I won 6-0, there’s room for improvement for myself,” added the world number nine.

“I’ve got a day off now and I’ll be back on the practice table, just keeping my arm in.

“This is where you want to be, the quarter-finals of any tournament and especially the UK. It would be nice to get one over from Neil last year, and whenever you play Graeme he’s a class act.”

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