A rejuvenated Alfie Burden claims it was the doubters that inspired his turnaround in form after reaching the second round of the German Masters in Berlin.

It wasn’t always pretty but Burden saw off Michael Georgiou 5-3 in their first-round encounter at the Tempodrom to set up a last-16 clash with Ryan Day on Friday.

Burden won just two matches in his first eight tournaments this season but results have picked up since with a run to quarter-finals at the Xuzhou Open at the end of January.

Against Georgiou, the Welwyn Garden City potter won a couple of scrappy frames but wrapped up victory with a 112-break and insists his game is a million miles away from where it was a few months ago.

“It was a very slow start to the season for me,” said Burden. “My confidence was shot to bits and I couldn’t win a game early on.

“People write you off when you’ve been a pro for a long time and they start to think ‘oh, he’s finished now’.

“But I’m the sort of character that when people think I’m finished, it makes me want to try harder.

“So, I’ve knuckled down and practised harder and luckily the results have turned around. My confidence is back and when I’m confident, I can beat anyone on my day.”

Burden will face Welshman Day in with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs and victory would mean a best-ever performance in a ranking event for the world No.55.

And now that he is out of his slump, the 38-year-old believes there is no reason he can’t cause Day, and the other top players, some serious problems.

“When you’re in a bad run of defeats, you don’t know where your next win is coming from and that’s a horrible feeling,” added Burden.

“Most snooker players have gone through it at some point in their career and I’ve been playing for 20 years, so I’ve gone through it more than once.

“The only way of getting out of it is getting that first victory, building on that and hopefully getting a bit of confidence back.

“I’ve managed to turn it round, so I’m feeling dangerous again.”

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