Higgins and Robertson shine in Last 16 of International Championship

John Higgins and Neil Robertson were the stars of the last 16 action at the International Championship in Daqing after they both blazed into tomorrow's quarter-finals. Starting with John Higgins, he was simply sublime against Masters Champion Shaun Murphy. There was little Murphy could do and he really only had two half reasonable half chances in the match as he was soundly beaten 6-0. Breaks of 56, 62, 74, 78 and 138 highlighted the Scot's title credentials. Higgins will now play Joe Perry in the quarter-finals after he saw off Ben Woollaston, who was unable to keep his deciding frame winning run going this week.

Neil Robertson was another one of the stars as he won a repeat of the 2010 World Championship final beating Graeme Dott 6-1. Graeme had his chances in this one but overall the Australian was far too strong on the day, contributing with 56, 67, 73 and 75. Next up for Neil is what could be one of the matches of the season against world number 1 Mark Selby. Selby was a 6-3 winner today against Michael White. White was miles away from his best game, and Selby was at his clinical best for the most part, feeding off of his opponents errors and sticking the knife into his back. Runs of 53, 59, 62 and 83 were key in him truly punishing the Welshman and booking his quarter-final place.

Mark Allen is still going strong out in Daqing aiming to go one better than at last years International where he was runner-up to Walden. It was comfortable today for him against Tian Pengfei as he was a 6-1 winner with contributions of 52, 81 and 100 but his place in the last eight was never at any risk. Next up for Mark is the decider king of the week Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who overcame Zhou Yuelong 6-5. Yet again Un-Nooh started slow and was 3-1 down at the interval, but a break of 103 had him back in touching distance at 3-2. A 115 from Zhou pulled clear again at 4-2, but breaks of 58 and 55 pulled the Thai level at 4-4. He then went ahead at 5-4 before a 64 levelled the match again, but it was Un-Nooh who would eventually prevail.

Finally, David Gilbert ran out a 6-4 winner against Ryan Day to match his run to the semi-finals of the Ruhr Open with a quarter-final in Daqing. That came despite breaks of 112 and 93 on the way from Day, but 69, 68, 58 and 50 from David were enough to see him over the line. He will now play Marco Fu after the Hong Kong cueist overcame Jimmy Robertson 6-3. Breaks of 100, 105 and 106 as well as a further 84 and 53, highlighted the dangers that Marco will now present to anyone who meets him in the rest of this weeks tournament.

Last 16 Results:

Mark Allen 6-1 Tian Pengfei
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-5 Zhou Yuelong
Marco Fu 6-3 Jimmy Robertson
David Gilbert 6-4 Ryan Day
Mark Selby 6-3 Michael White
Neil Robertson 6-1 Graeme Dott
John Higgins 6-0 Shaun Murphy
Joe Perry 6-5 Ben Woollaston

What's left tomorrow is a two table situation for the four best-of-11 quarter-finals, all of which will be televised on either table one or two, with Allen/Un-Nooh in the first session and Selby/Robertson in the second session being the two feature games on Eurosport. These are my thoughts on all four of tomorrow's games:

Quarter-Final Preview (Picks in Bold)

Mark Allen Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - I expect this quarter-final at the top of the draw to be played in a similar way to the way all of Thepchaiya's matches seem to have been played this week so far and that is in a very open attacking style. Having come through 3 deciders this week already you have to ask how much the Thai has left in him, but I don't think it will have taken all that much out of him to be honest. It is not often that you get to watch Un-Nooh so i'm looking forward to watching this and seeing some more of the Thai's effortless break building. This style really is working for him now as he develops a greater level of consistency that really makes him a constant danger in the draw. Mark Allen has gone along nicely so far this week with wins against Swail, Kyren Wilson and Tian Pengfei but this will be another test entirely against the heavy scoring Thai who has been playing a lot of one visit snooker this week. The key thing is that Thepchaiya can continue to relax even though he's now so far into the tournament as he'll still be considered an outsider, but at the end of the day you wouldn't be able to tell from his demeanour in most cases that I've seen him when he's under pressure and not. My view is that he has a great chance to keep his progress going.

Marco Fu Vs David Gilbert - This will be another cracking clash based on how the two guys have been playing this week. Marco hit three centuries today against Jimmy Robertson and really looks to have hit form this week, with comfortable wins against potentially tough opponents and David can certainly be classed as another one of those. David has also had some very nice wins and been put under pressure aplenty coming through tight clashes with Guodong, Oli Lines and Day. Gilbert is in great form at the moment and full of confidence so Marco certainly won't have things all his own way. With both players playing well though, it is always difficult to find that decisive factor which will be the difference between winning and losing. Unfortunately for Gilbert it may just be that big match experience of getting over the line at the back end of tournaments that Marco has so much more of than him.

Mark Selby Vs Neil Robertson - This could be one of the matches of the season so far potentially. Selby went through a phase of seemingly playing each other all the time two or three years ago, but it does not feel like they have met that much lately so this really helps the anticipation for us fans. Starting with Robertson, he may have had a poor season to this point but you can almost put that out of the window given how well he's started this week. No one has really been able to get close to him and give him a real challenge, but you have to expect Mark to do a better job of making the Australian feel the heat. Selby has also showed good form this week, scoring fairly well and in the main part he has also punished his opponents errors really well and making sure they suffer as he always does at his best. What Selby does is not necessarily knock in century after century but you still know when he's close to his best game and you can see that at the moment. His record in China alone makes him one of the big favourites to win not only this match but go on and win the title. In my view, there's nothing to suggest he can't get past Robertson and go all the way if he can tie him down early on in the match with his usual sublime safety play.

Joe Perry Vs John Higgins - The final match of the quarter-final between Joe Perry and John Higgins could be one of the most one sided ones if Higgins plays anywhere like what he showed today against Shaun Murphy. Joe hasn't had the easiest route playing Dominic Dale in the Last 32 and that match was much closer than the 6-3 scoreline, while today was very closely fought with Ben Woollaston eventually coming through the decider and I don't think Joe is quite at his very best this week. Higgins meanwhile has won 11 frames in row after being 3-1 down against Michael Holt to win 6-3 there and of course whitewash Murphy today. Higgins really has come back into a lot more form in 2015 winning two ranking event titles and there's nothing stopping him from getting his third of the year in Daqing this week with the way he is striking the cue ball. Higgins will be a strong favourite if he can transfer his play of the last two rounds into this one, as there was nothing anyone could've done if they were in the same shoes as Shaun and Holt this week.


I'm really looking forward to watching all of these games tomorrow in what is possibly the hardest round of the competition to lose, given that the best-of-17 frame semi-finals and the one table set-up awaits if you can get over the line. It's going to be thrilling to see who makes it through in four very tough tests.