It's quarter-final time here at the Welsh Open and after barrage of seeds have been knocked out we are left with a few names that you would not expect in the last eight of a full ranking event.
Stuart Bingham, Barry Hawkins and Judd Trump are the three top 16 players that remain, and the next highest ranked player left in the draw is Robert Milkins who was ranked 32nd coming into this week. Then there is 42nd seed Zhou Yuelong, 43rd seed Kurt Maflin, 55th seed Stuart Carrington and the lowest ranked player remaining is Scott Donaldson who for this week was seeded 76 and will be climbing a lot higher after his exploits.
Yesterday's live blog was very much a hit. The first match I covered in the Last 32 was Robin Hull and Stuart Carrington, and that blog gained more viewers in Finland than anywhere else in the world. Therefore, I'd like to thank Hull for retweeting the link on his Twitter page and sharing it with his many fans.
Today three of the four quarter-finals are on TV, the one that is not is the 7pm start between Robert Milkins and Kurt Maflin. This match is available on Eurosport Player and the betting sites that usually show snooker. If you are not signed up to any of that I will be live blogging the quarter-final as I am still in Cardiff and really looking forward to this last eight match in particular.
A few things impressed me yesterday. Stuart Carrington was very good in his matches with Hull and Figueiredo scoring fairly well, looking comfortable and not missing too much of great importance. Equally, Scott Donaldson was very impressive scoring pretty well and putting experienced players in Mark Davis and Jimmy Robertson in all sorts of problems, even if neither were at their best. Hossein Vafei Ayouri looked very calm in his Last 32 win over Ali Carter. There are not many players who can finish off matches with consecutive centuries and it is a shame he could not go on a little further against Trump.
On to today, and here is what we have to look forward to:
Quarter-Final Draw and Schedule:
12pm - TV Table - Zhou Yuelong Vs Scott Donaldson
To Follow - Judd Trump Vs Barry Hawkins
7pm - TV Table - Stuart Bingham Vs Stuart Carrington
7pm - Streamed Table - Robert Milkins Vs Kurt Maflin
Zhou Yuelong and Scott Donaldson are both in their first ever quarter-finals in full ranking events so that could be a nervy affair to start us off. Zhou's scoring was too much for Muir and Walker yesterday and could be again in this match if he can keep it up. It is a tough ask for both players and that could go all the way given the pressure of making a big semi-final.
Then we have the best match of the day, a real highlight between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins. They met just a week ago in the World Grand Prix Last 16, and as Hawkins went on to win the event we all know what happened there. Hawkins is making the game look so much easier than anyone else in the world right now in my opinion. He is scoring for fun, and is so good to watch when he is at his best with such a smooth cue action. If I am honest, Judd Trump has had a fairly easy draw to reach this point and has not been tested to anywhere near the level that he will face today. Hawkins is in such great form and such a solid player anyway, that Trump will have to be at his very best today if he is to make it through.
Then in the evening the battle of the Stuart's would certainly see Bingham as a big favourite. He is certainly not at the top of the game though, and Carrington is not to be underestimated here. I watched both of his matches yesterday very closely and as mentioned earlier in the post he played very well, looked good when amongst the reds and was playing superbly. Carrington is a player who I thought could break through and this may well be his week if he can hold his nerve here tonight.
The winner of that will play the winner of the other evening match between Milkins and Maflin. Aside from his match last night against Mei Xiwen which went pretty scrappy towards the end, Milkins was very fluent yesterday and has been scoring well in his early round wins. It is easy to underestimate how good he can be just because he has slipped in the rankings, but it is not so long ago that he was a top 16 player. Kurt Maflin has also never realised his full potential. I have not been able to see much of him due to table set-ups and things but it seems that he has been scoring pretty well as you would expect when he is playing well. If they both turn up with their best tonight we are in for a cracker, but they are both so inconsistent that anything could happen.
Whoever wins it should be a good day of snooker, and do not forget to watch out for my live blog of Milkins and Maflin tonight.
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