John Higgins played a very high standard match with the last Welshman standing in Llandudno, as Ryan Day had two centuries, and John had one of his own. It went down to a deciding frame there with both players missing balls in that decider before Day cleared the colours to cross the line and set up a quarter-final with the World champion.
Mark Allen also fell in the second round as he saw Thepchaiya Un-Nooh reel off four frames in a row from 2-0 behind, and later he took to Twitter and blamed as many as five flukes from the Thai for the match turning against him.
He will now play China's Ding Junhui who overcame Neil Robertson's victor Peter Ebdon 4-0. Ebdon had big chances in three of the four frames but missed balls a couple of balls at key times and Ding was certainly on top form to punish him for that.
In the evening Joe Perry was very impressive in beating Kyren Wilson. He started well with an 86 break before Wilson levelled with his own 50+ break and after the Gentleman dominated frame three it was the fourth that proved key as Wilson missed his chance and Perry punished him to move two clear and then finish the match off in style with a 125 total clearance.
Perry now faces up to Ali Carter who was a comfortable 4-0 winner against Mark Selby's victor Tom Ford. Breaks of 98, 65, 53 and 58 saw the Captain cruise to victory.
Liang Wenbo kept up his fight to get into the top 16 for the World Championships with a 4-2 victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan's assassin in Michael Holt. Wenbo took the first two and then rattled into a 3-1 lead before Holt's highest break of the match came in frame five with a 78 to keep him in it, but when Liang's chance came a 71 in the final frame was more than enough to get him over the line.
Finally, Shaun Murphy beat the in-form Martin Gould in what was always going to be a great match. Murphy opened up with 84 to shut Gould out only for the German Masters champion to hit back with a 110 break. A key miss on the yellow from Gould saw Murphy clear the colours to take a lengthy frame three, which he then followed with a 73 in the fourth to punish Martin again who had opened the reds from a tricky black which he missed by a distance. Multiple chances were needed in the end for Murphy to get over the line but the important thing for him was to make it through to his first full-ranking event quarter-final of the year.
Last 16 Results:
Ryan Day 4-3 John Higgins
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Judd Trump
Ali Carter 4-0 Tom Ford
Joe Perry 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Martin Gould
Liang Wenbo 4-2 Michael Holt
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Mark Allen
Ding Junhui 4-0 Peter Ebdon
Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)
Ryan Day Vs Stuart Bingham - The quarter-finals remain the best-of-7 frames and we start at the top of the draw with a repeat of the last 16 tie from the German Masters last month. On that day it was Day who ran out the winner and after making two centuries in beating top seed John Higgins he certainly will not fear Stuart Bingham having beaten him so recently. Bingham has looked in better form at times this week but his match with Trump in the last 16 was very nervy and with both suffering with a little illness that was to be expected. Hopefully for his sake the world champion can overcome his little bug, but either way I expect this to run close.Joe Perry Vs Ali Carter - Joe Perry and Ali Carter have not really met for a long time (with a Championship League match their only one since October 2012) and a lot has happened to both players since then on and off the table. This week they are cueing well and have only dropped one frame each on the way to the quarter-finals. Perry has looked particularly sharp, rounding off two victories against two quality opponents in Hawkins and Wilson with century breaks. Carter meanwhile has had slightly easier opposition in Brecel and Ford but has still done what he has had to do with some quality and is always a major threat when his name is in the draw at the back end of a tournament. On paper this really seems to me like a bit of a coin flip but with the confidence that Perry has shown this week I am inclined to lean more towards him.
Liang Wenbo Vs Shaun Murphy - After his match against Martin Gould, Murphy referenced Liang Wenbo as somewhat of a bogey player for him. For me it seems like he is living a long way in the past. Of his four losses to Liang, one was in 2009, one in 2011 and one in 2012. Murphy has also won the last two meetings in the German Masters semi-finals in 2015 and the 2014 General Cup. Liang is of course fighting for his top 16 place going into the Crucible and has played some decent snooker in the first couple of rounds against Dott and Holt. Murphy meanwhile has had two very tough matches already against Michael White and Martin Gould but has come through with the loss of only a frame and the way he is cueing is a very good sign as he looks to push on now, having made his first full ranking quarter-final of the season.
Ding Junhui Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - The all Asian clash at the bottom of the draw between China's Ding Junhui and Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh sets up to be one of the most entertaining clashes of the week if both players bring their best. Thepchaiya has already beaten Marco Fu and Mark Allen this week after showing very little form for the last couple of months coming into this. Ding Junhui has the job of clinging on to his top 16 place for the World Championships and he has gotten off to a good start this week with wins over Ben Woollaston and Peter Ebdon scoring reasonably well when he has had to. He looks relatively relaxed too, but he will be well aware that the Thai is no pushover after losing to him in their last meeting a year ago in the Indian Open. This one too could go right to the wire.
It looks like another good day of quarter-final play is upon us tomorrow as the players fight to make it through to the semi-final Saturday and get to the longer format best-of-11 frames matches. With the way the draw has opened up, it is certainly all still to play for.
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