Michael Holt was the star of the Last 16 in the Shanghai Masters as he defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan for the second time in 2016, by a 5-2 scoreline on this occasion. Holt has been growing in confidence throughout the last year and after beating O'Sullivan 4-3 in the World Grand Prix he would have had the belief to repeat the dosage. After taking the opener he lost the next two to fall 1-2 behind before hitting back with a break of 103 to level the match going into the mid-session. A 57 following the interval helped him back into the lead, and after a simple missed black from the Rocket - seeing him whack his cue on the table - Holt dished up to double his lead. Ronnie started frame seven with a 55 before missing another easy ball, and the Nottingham potter picked up the pieces with a very nice break of 64 to clinch the match and put himself into the quarter-finals.
Home favourite Ding Junhui will face Holt tomorrow after his own 5-2 victory over Mark Allen. It was Allen that took the opener courtesy of a 69 break, but upon levelling the match up Ding then hit his Northern Irish opponent with a barrage of breaks. Runs of 54 and 86 in the next two saw to putting the 2013 Shanghai winner 3-1 ahead at the interval, and that lead stretched to 4-1 after another 50 in the fifth. He was looking good in the sixth but after faltering on 56, Allen made a 64 to keep himself in it. He was not in it for much longer though with a 58 helping Ding along in the seventh before he ultimately finished things off.
There was a big comeback on the day, with Michael White coming from 3-0 behind with five straight frames to beat Judd Trump 5-3. White only scored 28 points as Trump took the three frame lead in very quick fashion helped by runs of 56 and 64. The next five frames did not come without chances for Trump on this non-televised table. He scored at least 27 points or more but could not convert, and the most disappointing frame for Trump would have been the seventh as White came from 56 points adrift with a break of 57 to win the frame by a point and move ahead for the first time, before taking another scrappy frame and sealing a pleasing victory.
Elsewhere on the outside tables in the later session in Shanghai Ali Carter got his second victory of the season against John Higgins. After already beating Higgins 5-0 in China this season, the eventual World Open champion was looking for more of the same and started well by taking a 2-0 lead, which soon extended to 4-1 after the interval. Higgins kept himself in the match for a while, but eventually fell 5-2 after a 67 in the last from Carter.
Stuart Bingham will be his opponent in the quarter-finals after he won 5-2 on the non-televised table earlier on in the day against David Gilbert. It appeared to be a match where both players had chances, and one of the key frames could have been the second as Bingham stole it on the black to take an early 2-0 lead. That lead stretched to 4-1 with Bingham's highest break of the match, a 68, after the mid-session and there was little danger of a Gilbert comeback as he soon completed victory in the seventh.
After thumping Shaun Murphy 5-0 on Wednesday, Stephen Maguire carried on his fine form in this tournament by beating Barry Hawkins 5-3. Technical difficulties in the World Snooker live scoring for this match left everyone scrapping around trying to find out the score, while Maguire was busy putting himself 4-1 ahead. Hawkins did not give up though making breaks of 72 and 66 in reducing his arrears to just one at 4-3. The Scotsman kept his composure and made a 91 (his highest break of the match) to get across the line.
The World Champion did not have things all his own way against Stuart Carrington eventually crossing the line a 5-3 winner. Breaks of 73, 87 and 120 helped him to a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval and at this stage he looked very comfortable. Carrington made 73 in the fifth to close the gap but Selby opened that gap up again to put himself one away, and had a chance to seal the match in the seventh but his lower ranked opponent took a tight one to stay in it. Carrington had chances again in the eighth but could not take Selby to a decider as he eventually fell over the line.
Selby will now have another test against Ryan Day in the quarter-finals. Day beat the lowest ranked player remaining in Mei Xi Wen 5-2 to clinch his last eight spot in a performance that included two centuries, and three frames in a row after the mid-session break to shrug off his Chinese opponent.
Quarter-Final Line-up:
7.30am UK Time:
Stuart Bingham Vs Ali Carter
Mark Selby Vs Ryan Day
12.30pm UK Time:
Ding Junhui Vs Michael Holt
Stephen Maguire Vs Michael White
With eight players remaining, there are still four former Shanghai Masters winners in the draw hoping to be the first players to win the title more than once. Three of those are found in one half of the draw, with Bingham and Carter playing each other in what will be there third meeting of the year so far. Carter won the previous two at the World Championships and on the way to winning the World Open. Neither player has yet had a close game, and both look to be in decent form ahead of this one. Mark Selby is the other Shanghai Master in that half, but after struggling to kill off Stuart Carrington today he will hope to be more clinical against Ryan Day if given the chance. Day has a good record in Shanghai himself being a former finalist and he has already seen off Neil Robertson this week so there is no reason why he cannot pull off another big win.
Ding Junhui is the other previous winner of this event, but he plays a man in Michael Holt who has already sent two former winners packing in Ronnie O'Sullivan and defending champion Kyren Wilson. Perhaps, after reaching the final of the Riga Masters in the early season, it is time for Holt to kick on and finally win a full ranking event title. Ding looked in much better form today than in his tight match with Scott Donaldson on Monday though, and on his home patch he is never a push over despite some of his hit and miss form in Chinese events.
Finally, we have a battle between two players who had to come through qualifying to reach this stage. Stephen Maguire has been in fine form already making a maximum this week in the wildcard round and seeing off two seeded players by whitewashing Murphy and beating Hawkins today so he will certainly take some stopping. Michael White has not necessarily been at his best but was able to grind out a couple of results, but if his opponent carries on the way he has been so far he will need to be at his best to get through.
All matches in the quarter-finals are again over the best-of-9 frames.
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