More pressure with a bye to look forward to?

[The Statman]

It has happened to various people over the years, knowing that their opponent in the next round has withdrawn.

I wonder if you think this adds a bit of pressure, thinking of this morning's match between Stuart Pettman and Cao Kaisheng, knowing that the winner will progress straight to their career-best ranking event round.

Obviously it was slightly different here in that one was a wildcard, but I expect Stuart might have been under a wee bit more pressure (than just the thought of being undone by a non-pro) knowing that he would go straight to the round equalling his best performance.

Having said that, didn't seem to do him much harm!

[dantuck_7]

He'll play Williams or Bingham in the last 16. Someone on here tipped him as an outsider to back. Was probably about 200-1 then.