Although fourth seed Kirk Stevens defeated Ray Edmonds 10–8, snooker pundit Clive Everton said that his standard of play was not that of a top-four player and Edmonds "made work". In a slow first session, Rex Williams and eighth seed Terry Griffiths played seven (instead of the planned nine) frames; Griffiths led 6–1 after three hours and 38 minutes, Alex Higgins and Terry Griffiths were tied 5–5 after ten frames. Griffiths pulled ahead during the second session, leading 10–6, and won three of the first four frames of the final session to win 13–7. John Parrott led Kirk Stevens 6–2 after the first session and eventually won, 13–6.