Ding Junhui is the latest high seeded player to exit the 2016 UK Championships after suffering a 6-2 thrashing by Jamie Jones. Jones led 2-0 early on in the contest, but this weeks fifth seed levelled at 2-2 going into the interval only for the Welshman to win all of the last four frames.
Joe Perry was another of the top 16 seeds to exit as he also lost out 6-2 to Matthew Stevens. Stevens had already beaten Michael White in this event, while Perry had somehow dragged his previous match from the fire against Xiao Guodong. The only highlight for Perry was a 136 break in the opening frame, but after taking the lead at 2-1 he then only scored eight points in the next four frames as he fell 5-2 behind before eventually losing 6-2.
Ali Carter was the other high seeded player to lose in the third round as he squandered a 3-0 lead in losing 6-5 to David Gilbert. After getting the match back to 3-2, Gilbert then made consecutive centuries to lead for the first time and went one away at 5-3. Carter hit back with runs of 95 and 116 to force the eleventh and deciding frame and was only a couple of balls from victory when he missed a crucial pink to the middle. A 55 clearance followed from Gilbert to put him in the Last 32.
Shaun Murphy did manage to scrape through against Dominic Dale. Murphy looked strong with runs of 89 and 103 on the way to taking a 5-2 lead, only to miss chances in the next few frames to kill the match off and instead Dale forced a decider. Dale had a half dozen chances in the decider, but when Murphy's chance came he potted some good balls under pressure to book his Last 16 place.
Mark Allen meanwhile came from 4-0 adrift against Ryan Day to win 6-5. Day was flying at the interval having barely missed a ball in the first four frames, but suddenly he fell away and Allen took five frames in a row to lead 5-4. Day forced the decider and had the best of the early chances before poor safety play from Day, and a succession of snookers from Allen clawed him back into it before the Northern Irishman clinched victory.
Things were much more simple for Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby who both cruised to 6-1 wins against Michael Georgiou and Robert Milkins respectively. John Higgins overcame Ben Woollaston 6-2 after winning the last three frames in that match. Marco Fu had to battle hard for victory against Mei Xi Wen in a very poor performance that was not punished by his Chinese opponent who could easily have won.
The Lines family interest was halved after Peter Lines (who saw off top seed Neil Robertson in round one) lost 6-2 to Liam Highfield. Son Oliver kicked on after his victory against Judd Trump by whitewashing Jimmy Robertson.
In a key battle for Masters spots it was Welshman Mark Williams who edge the battle of 16th seed against 17th seed Ricky Walden who had led 5-3 before losing 6-5.
Last 32 Results:
Liam Highfield 6-2 Peter Lines
Mark Williams 6-5 Ricky Walden
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Joe Perry
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Michael Georgiou
Jamie Jones 6-2 Ding Junhui
David Gilbert 6-5 Ali Carter
Marco Fu 6-4 Mei Xi Wen
Oliver Lines 6-0 Jimmy Robertson
Luca Brecel 6-1 Yu De Lu
Stephen Maguire 6-5 Fergal O'Brien
Zhou Yuelong 6-5 Yan Bingtao
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Dominic Dale
John Higgins 6-2 Ben Woollaston
Mark Allen 6-5 Ryan Day
Zhang Anda 6-3 Mitchell Mann
Mark Selby 6-1 Robert Milkins
So, only seven of the top 16 seeds remain for the Last 16 at the UK Championships, so let's take a look at how they line-up for the fourth round over two tables on Wednesday and Thursday.
Last 16 Draw and Schedule:
Wednesday 30th November 1pm:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matthew Stevens
Shaun Murphy Vs Zhou Yuelong
Wednesday 30th November 7pm:
Marco Fu Vs Oliver Lines
Mark Selby Vs Zhang Anda
Thursday 1st December 1pm:
David Gilbert Vs Jamie Jones
John Higgins Vs Mark Allen
Thursday 1st December 7pm:
Mark Williams Vs Liam Highfield
Luca Brecel Vs Stephen Maguire
An interesting line-up then that will guarantee at least two players outside of the top 16 prior to the week making the quarter-final.
It is hard to see Ronnie O'Sullivan losing to Matthew Stevens, however well Stevens may be playing. The five times world champion has only dropped a single frame in motoring to the fourth round and that can be expected to continue.
Mark Williams had to battle hard against Ricky Walden and played quite well in parts, and will hope to take advantage of Liam Highfield's inexperience at this level in order to make it into the quarter-finals.
David Gilbert is a slight favourite with the bookies to beat Jamie Jones and rightly so. Gilbert has played well in this tournament so far, with two easy wins in the opening two rounds as well as scoring heavily in a high quality match with Ali Carter. Jones though has only dropped five frames to make it this far and will be determined to carry on his great run.
Oliver Lines was flying against Jimmy Robertson following victory against Judd Trump the round before and it would not be at all surprising to see him carry that on against an out of form Marco Fu. This is the first ranking event of the season that has seen Fu in the Last 16 and he nearly threw that away against Mei Xi Wen in the last round
Stephen Maguire was the nineteenth seed for the UK Championships and now that many of the top 16 seeds have gone he will be looking to take advantage by climbing back up the rankings. His Last 16 opponent Luca Brecel has reached the Last 16 in York for the second year in a row, having previously made the quarter-finals here in 2012 so he certainly seems to bring out his best here and has hit form at the right time this season.
Shaun Murphy has had to battle to reach this stage but now plays Chinese youngster Zhou Yuelong, who he overcame at the last 64 stage last year in the UK Championships, and he will want to improve to do the same again this week and perhaps hope for signs of in experience in his opponent.
The only all top 16 match in the fourth round puts Mark Allen against John Higgins, Higgins has been in brilliant form winning two events in November, and making a 147 break in the event he did not win prior to this one. Allen came from 0-4 down against Ryan Day but he did not play badly to fall that far behind in the first place and he simply stayed strong when the Welshman's level dropped. Allen has also had a maximum, making his in the Last 64 this week. This could be a very tight match if they both play their both, and Allen will certainly look to play better than his 9-3 semi-final loss to Higgins in the China Championships which Higgins went on to win. Allen however had won their three most recent meetings in big events prior to that.
World champion Mark Selby should not have many problems overcoming Zhang Anda is he is at his best. Zhang will have to play at his very best either way if he is to complete his first ever victory against Selby. Selby may not have been playing his very best game throughout this event so far, but this is the time when it usually kicks on and if that starts to happen you almost expect him to lift the trophy on Sunday.
That is how the Last 16 shapes up for Wednesday and Thursday to produce Friday's quarter-finals line-up with all matches still being played over the best-of-11 frames.
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