Xavier Rizzo has continued his impressive run at the World Snooker Federation (WSF) Junior World Snooker Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, advancing to the last 16 after winning his group and then overcoming the last-32 stage on the same day.

In the knockout round, the Maltese youngster faced Romania’s Iustin Ilie Scripei in a competitive encounter. Scripei took the opening frame, despite Rizzo compiling a 50-point break — his highest break of the tournament so far. Rizzo responded strongly by claiming the next two frames, only for the Romanian to draw level once again.

However, Rizzo showed his class and composure at the crucial moment, winning the following two frames in succession to seal a 4–2 victory. The frame scores were: 53–65, 77–27, 81–1, 21–70, 65–33 and 55–33.

Rizzo will now return to the table on Thursday at 9am (Malta time) for his last-16 match against 16-year-old Thai player Prin Ratmukda. The Thai youngster is regarded as one of the standout players in the competition and has been in ruthless form, winning all five of his matches without dropping a single frame.

In the last 32, Ratmukda cruised past Scotland’s Jack Borwick — the European Under-16 champion who won the title in Malta three years ago — underlining the scale of the challenge awaiting Rizzo.