Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby had pretty easy 4-1 wins on Thursday to make the quarter-finals, while John Higgins beat Judd Trump 4-3 in an absolute classic contest to set-up a quarter-final with O'Sullivan. Meanwhile, carrying the last hopes of Wales on his shoulders in Newport, Mark Williams was knocked out by Marco Fu in a good performance for the Hong Kong man.
Defending champion Stephen Maguire suffered a shock though as he was knocked out 4-3 by young Joel Walker, while my tournament tip Ding Junhui suffered no such troubles as he whitewashed young Scott Donaldson.
Thursdays Last 16 results:
Mark Selby 4-1 Ali Carter
Joe Perry 4-3 Stuart Bingham
Joel Walker 4-3 Stephen Maguire
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Ricky Walden
Ding Junhui 4-0 Scott Donaldson
John Higgins 4-3 Judd Trump
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Liang Wenbo
Marco Fu 4-2 Mark Williams
Quarter-Final Preview:
Ding Junhui Vs Joel Walker - Joel Walker really has had some brilliant wins this week, but he has said that he's going to need to start scoring heavier if he has any chance against Ding Junhui this afternoon. Ding probably hasn't been at his absolute best, but he's also not that far from it and he should be powerful enough in every department to punish Walker if he can't take his chances, especially as Joel won't be getting many chances. Can only see one winner here in this big ranking event quarter-final.
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs John Higgins - In prospect here we have probably the match of the whole tournament so far, between two of the worlds best ever players. Higgins didn't have much confidence coming into this, but he won his first 3 matches 4-0 and then had a great win yesterday against Judd Trump, where he was better than Judd in every department. Ronnie meanwhile came into this event a little bit rusty and has gradually upped his game as required, and he will need another big push today to beat a John Higgins on the comeback trail after a few poor months. We're into the best-of-9's now which will help both players, and I can only see this match being 5-4 either way.
Mark Selby Vs Joe Perry - Both players have been playing well in this event, and it's good to see Mark Selby coming close to his best form ahead of a busy 2 months ahead. Selby has been good in both departments of safety and scoring this week, making 2 tough looking Last 32 and Last 16 matches look easy. Joe meanwhile, has had 2 tight wins in the Last 32 and Last 16 to get here, and will need to up his game another notch to have any chance tonight against Mark, and take his chances when they come or Selby will make his life very difficult in all areas.
Barry Hawkins Vs Marco Fu - This is another incredibly close match in prospect between 2 players that have played some really great snooker this week, but also gone under the radar to get to the quarter-finals. Fu was quite superb yesterday against Williams, taking his chances when they came along, and really punishing Williams, as he will need to do today to Hawkins. Barry also seems like he's been playing well, away from the TV cameras (and this match will be played away from them again tonight) scoring well, especially in his nice comeback from 3-1 down against Jack Lisowski, but also from 2-0 down yesterday against Liang Wenbo. However, he is going to need to up his game again to beat an in-form Marco.
Whatever happens today, we have some amazing quarter-finals today that will produce some equally exciting semi-finals tomorrow, and a cracking final on Sunday. I hope you all enjoy a great weekend of snooker.
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