Dunn stuns Day at Tour Finals

Mike Dunn was the surprise winner on day three of the Players Championship Finals at Event City in Manchester where he beat Ryan Day 4-2 to progress into the quarter-finals of a full ranking event for only the second time in his career. Day showed none of the form that saw him make a century and two 90 breaks in a 4-1 demolition of Kyren Wilson just a day earlier on his birthday, and despite a horrific miss-cue from Dunn when looking to clear for a 4-1 win, he held his nerve to take victory a frame later in the sixth.

Elsewhere there were comfortable wins for Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy as they continued their recent returns to form, while Mark Allen felt he was stronger in round two with victory over Mark King. Ben Woollaston saw off Selby's replacement Matt Selt while his wife Tatiana refereed Barry Hawkins scrappy deciding frame victory against Robert Milkins on the next table in the evening session.

Ali Carter was much too strong for Judd Trump scoring heavily when his chance came and shutting his opponent out in the safety exchanges to really put the former UK Champion under significant pressure that he could not rise too. Carter will now play Ricky Walden who continued his return to form by reaching his first ranking quarter-final of the season with a magnificent 4-2 win over Marco Fu, which was completed with a century break.

Last 16 Results:

Ben Woollaston 4-2 Matt Selt
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Dominic Dale
Mark Allen 4-2 Mark King
Mike Dunn 4-2 Ryan Day
Ricky Walden 4-2 Marco Fu
Ali Carter 4-1 Judd Trump
Ding Junhui 4-0 Michael White
Barry Hawkins 4-3 Robert Milkins

Quarter-Finals Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Ben Woollaston - This may only be Shaun Murphy's second ranking event quarter-final of the season but right now he is absolutely flying. Dominic Dale did nothing wrong last night but was beaten comfortably simply because of how good Murphy's long potting and scoring is at this precise moment. We all know that Woollaston is a class player and has been in decent form himself in recent times reaching the Welsh Open quarter-finals so he will challenge the Grand Prix champion. Murphy will be weary of the fact that he did not play too badly in a 5-4 defeat to Woollaston at the German Masters but the confidence he has right now still sees him a level up from that match and I fancy his run to continue.

Mark Allen Vs Mike Dunn - Mike Dunn is obviously the surprise name in the quarter-finals but he fully deserves to be here. Against McLeod I expected him to win and he was very good value for it, and yesterday against Ryan Day he was given plenty of opportunities by Day's frankly poor play and Dunn just about held his nerve to take them. Playing Mark Allen is a different proposition though as he has been in really good form this season. In Cardiff he was very impressive to make the semi-finals and he has started this week off fairly nicely too as he looks for another appearance in the last 4. If Allen scores heavily like he can, then I do not see Mike Dunn progressing any further.

Ali Carter Vs Ricky Walden - This match is a real coin flip affair in my opinion. Starting with Ali Carter I think he was magnificent yesterday against Judd Trump, doing everything perfectly in both the safety department and with his heavy scoring. However, it is tough to keep these high levels up in all areas from game to game, and Trump has looked off colour for some time and he almost allowed Carter to dominate him. Ricky Walden has also been out of form this season, in fact this is his first ranking event quarter-final of the season. This week though has been a different story, two very strong wins and his fluency amongst the balls seems to have returned. When Walden is at the top of his game he can reel off frames for fun with the first scoring chance he gets and it is a real joy to watch the flow and rhythm he gets into. If Carter's safety is as strong as it was against Trump then he should win but if he gives Walden chances I would expect the former International champion to take them.

Barry Hawkins Vs Ding Junhui - Finally we have another good match to look forward to between Barry Hawkins and Ding Junhui. Hawkins has had to grind for his victories against lower ranked opponents in Michael Holt and Robert Milkins and has certainly not been at the top of his game but that does not mean he will not win this. His battling qualities and match play are right up there and his scoring form has not exactly fallen off of the face of the earth. Ding Junhui however has been looking in great form so far this week, starting off both of his comfortable victories with century breaks which is a sign of class and a sign of the game that Ding Junhui showed to win five ranking events two seasons ago. This is in fact his third ranking event quarter-final in a row which is as good as anyone right now, and it took some real form to see him off in the Welsh Open quarters, and Grand Prix semi's and you would expect someone to have to play some outstanding stuff again this week if he is to be sent packing.


A cracking quarter-final line-up and the final day of best-of-7 frames matches that we will see this season, ahead of the best-of-11 semi's and best-of-19 final, before the China Open and of course the World Championships. A great time to find form.