It's time for the quarter-finals in Wuxi as we are down to 8 after todays exciting and close quarter-finals with plenty of great snooker being played in conditions that are far from easy for the players this week given the dampness and humidity out there at present.
As I mentioned early there were plenty of exciting games with good snooker played as Marco Fu overcame Stuart Bingham in an exciting and tense deciding frame while Shaun Murphy ended the challenge of Chinese wildcard Zhao Xintong and their were comfortable wins for Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins.
Last 16 Results:
Neil Robertson 5-1 Michael Holt
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Zhao Xintong
Marco Fu 5-4 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins 5-2 Alan McManus
Martin Gould 5-3 Ryan Day
Stephen Maguire 5-0 Judd Trump
Robin Hull 5-1 Cao Yupeng
Joe Perry 5-2 Liang Wenbo
So then we've got some brilliant quarter-finals to look forward to tomorrow and it's now time for me to take a look at what we can expect from Friday's action:
Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Shaun Murphy - This should be another very open match between 2 very attacking players that on their day are great long potters and excellent scorers in amongst the balls. Conditions have been slightly tougher this week as they always are in China but that hasn't stopped Neil Robertson making centuries in both of his matches so far and he's played very well for his victories and he's probably favourite in my mind to win this match if he can keep it up. Despite beating Zhao Xintong comfortably in terms of the score today Shaun Murphy could've been pushed a lot closer and possibly beaten on another day as the match went very scrappy and Shaun struggled to make anything more than a 40 break on the day, so he'll certainly have to improve tomorrow if he's to have any chance of making the win. With Murphy set to attack, and Robertson likely to do that as well it will be the player that makes the most of his chances and makes the big breaks that will win the game rather than it being decided on tactical exchanges. So far this week, the heavy scorer has been Neil so he has the edge going into it.
Barry Hawkins Vs Marco Fu - These 2 players have been very evenly matched this week looking at their performances with both having to come through deciders at some stage while both have also had some slightly easier wins. Marco Fu made 2 centuries today in beating Stuart Bingham, but with him it's always about whether he can produce this consistently and he has been doing that a lot more in the last couple of years. He also seems to play slightly better than Barry Hawkins in Chinese conditions which is especially useful as this weeks conditions (especially today in the last 16) have been even tougher than normal for China. Despite all of this, Barry has still been able to score and play well in his matches despite being pushed very close by a wildcard in the Last 32, and even though he was able to dig in and get the win someone with more experience like Marco Fu would've been able to punish him and probably knock him out. So for me, I think if Fu can keep up his consistency, Hawkins will have to up his game which is something I think he struggles with more on Chinese soil.
Stephen Maguire Vs Martin Gould - Both of these guys have played some very good snooker this week and recorded some very good wins. Maguire has to overcome some incredibly tough opponents in David Gilbert and Michael White before whitewashing his toughest opponent of the lot in Judd Trump, though Maguire won several frames that Trump simply kept gifting him, and he won't get such gifts tomorrow against Martin, but when he's really had to and been under pressure Maguire has scored well and his safety play was very impressive against Judd today. I've not seen any of Martin Gould this week but you can see from the scores he's been close to his best making the bigger breaks again and even though he only had to overcome amateurs in his first 2 matches he did it wasting little energy, which may have proved decisive in a very good win against a very tough player in Ryan Day. With both seeming to score well I can see this being a very close match that is decided on big safety battles and who really gives the most chances away. Looking at how he played today tactically I'd have to say that Maguire will be keeping it the tighter of the 2 here.
Joe Perry Vs Robin Hull - The first thing i'll say about this match is how good an achievement it is that Robin Hull has got to the quarter-finals this week and I'd also like to say how well he has played an scored throughout the week as he's really got back into things on the tour now having been back a year now after a long layoff. However, this is also the furthest Hull has got since getting back on tour and with it being so long since his last quarter-final in a ranking event this is maybe a little bit of unchartered territory for him and with that will come extra pressure. Joe Perry on the other hand has been making a lot of quarter-finals in the last year or so and having made another here with 3 very comfortable wins playing pretty well and scoring pretty well he'll be eager to make the semi's and try to convert this one into his first ranking event title. I think he's got a great chance of winning the title and an equally good chance of getting that first major after such a long time in the game.
Whatever the outcome of tomorrow's quarter-final games I'm pretty sure we'll be in for some very interesting action with plenty of close games and tension, but also 4 brilliant players to make up our semi-final line-up as the matches are upped to best of 11's for Saturday's semis and best of 19 for Sunday's final. I hope you enjoy all as much as I will and i'll be back tomorrow to look ahead to those semi-finals.
Whatever the outcome of these matches we're going to have 4 great semi-finalists and some great snooker to complete the week here in Wuxi, and I'm sure you'll all enjoy as much as I will. More tips to come from me again tomorrow ahead of the semi's.
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