The Thai, ranked No 25 this season, seven places higher than in 2005-2006, lost five of the last six frames as Dunn set up a last-16 contest against former Thailand Masters champion, Ken Doherty.

Wattana was always playing catch up after losing three of the first four frames. He was level at 4-4 at half way but fell away badly afterwards as Dunn cruised into the last 32.

A break of 97 in frame seven was Wattana's highest of the match and while Dunn fired in a 78 in the first two frames and a 74 and 61 to lead 6-5 he was never able to better his opponent's target.

The Thai in fact compiled a break of 74 to leave Dunn holding a one frame lead at 6-5 but he didn't win another as the man from Redcar took the last three to seal victory.

Wattana, 19th on the provisional ranking list, will fall a few places following this defeat but he still has four more events to play in his bid to reclaim a place in the top 16, though on the evidence of this setback, that appears to be a bridge too far.

The first of those is the Welsh Open.

Frames (Dunn first) 78-13, 122-0, 33-60, 57-15, 26-72, 64-21, 14-97, 26-80, 95-1, 83-37, 2-74, 80-42, 50-39, 52-35.

John Dee

The Nation