CHRIS Melling had every sympathy for his first opponent in the Kreativ Dental Gdynia Open in Poland last week.

Lancastrian Chris Norbury's cue was lost in transit, mirroring what happened to the Keighley man last August when he was en route to the Riga Open in Latvia.

Melling tweeted: "Beat Chris Norbury 4-0 he didn't have his cue and really felt for him."

Norbury only scored 57 points as Melling won 83(58)-11, 59-9, 81-0, 59-37 to book a match against world No 10 Marco Fu from Hong Kong.

Melling was 3-2 ahead in that, only to lose, and tweeted: "Got beat 4-3 by marco fu was a good game but the kicks and bounces spoiled it. Best of luck to him. Class on and off the table he is."

Fu lost 4-3 in the next round toRobert Milkins, and the tournament was won by world No 3 Neil Robertson.