Ding Junhui was one of the most dominant players on day three of the World Open as he thrashed fellow Chinese player Xiao Guodong 5-0. Having already beaten Zhang Anda 5-3 yesterday (having been 4-0 ahead) he carried on his strong scoring form today with contributions of 56, 62, 72 and 90 putting him 4-0 ahead once again at the break despite Xiao having chances of his own. This time there was to be no way back in for Ding's opponent as he killed the job off without any stress and booked his place in Thursday's last 16.
His opponent will be Joe Perry who was also in no mood for hanging around in a whitewash of Riga Masters champion Ryan Day. Perry started as he meant to go on with a break of 114, while a run of 57 in the second doubled his lead in no time at all. Frame three produced over half of Day's total points in the match but he could not get it on the board, and he was fully punished when a 79 gave Perry the fourth in one visit. There was no way back for Day as the gentleman added his fourth 50+ break to complete the 5-0 win.
It was not plain sailing for last week's champion John Higgins who had to win the last two frames to see off Matthew Selt in a decider. Breaks of 125, 86 and 58 gave Higgins the first, third and fifth frames in the match to give him narrow one frame leads on each occasion, but Selt looks to be coming back to a little bit more form in recent times. He showed some of that in frames six and seven with a 103 century followed by a 62 that were enough to see him lead for the first time at a crucial moment, 4-3 and one from victory. Selt failed to score in frame eight and Higgins again dominated the decider to keep his run going and register another win.
Neil Robertson also needed the final frame to see off Ben Woollaston. Both players were scoring nicely as Robertson registered breaks of 54, 87 and 96 to lead 3-2, while Woollaston had an early 94 and runs of 66 and 70 later on in the contest. However, it was Robertson who took a tight decider on the colours to book his place in the last 16.
Stuart Bingham was not quite as lucky as he went down 5-4 to Cao Yupeng having fought back to lead 4-3 from 3-1 adrift, while Daniel Wells could not complete his own comeback from 4-2 adrift as he went out in a final frame decider to China Champion Luca Brecel.
Marco Fu was the highest seed to exit in the last 32 stage, as he fell 5-3 to Peter Ebdon. Fu opened up with a 136 break but could not shake off Ebdon in the early stages and they went to the interval all square. Ebdon then started to dominate with runs of 79 and 59 putting him 4-2 in front, before a break of 56 in frame eight helped him to the winning line, for a second good showing of the week after beating Graeme Dott in the last 64.
Li Hang continued his good form as he made two big centuries in defeating Ricky Walden 5-3. Li opened up with a 127 and followed it with 73 to double his lead. Walden took the third before the China Championship semi-finalist made his second century of the match and set a new high break at 143 in the fourth to lead 3-1. While Walden would fight back from 4-1 to 4-3 he could go no further and it was Li Hang who would become the third Chinese player to make the last 16.
Elsewhere, Mark Allen looked in good touch to beat Allan Taylor 5-2 while David Gilbert beat Martin Gould by the same score with runs of 73, 73 and a match high 130 after the mid-session break. Lee Walker backed up a last 64 win against Selby with a 5-2 defeat of Robert Milkins, Mark Williams registered his second 5-0 win of the week against Chen Zhe and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh chalked up his second 142 break of the week in a 5-2 victory over Chris Wakelin.
Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Anthony McGill Vs Lee Walker
Luca Brecel Vs Cao Yupeng
Li Hang Vs Peter Ebdon
Ding Junhui Vs Joe Perry
Mark Williams Vs Jimmy Robertson
Kyren Wilson Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Allen
John Higgins Vs David Gilbert
There are some brilliant last 16 ties here and certainly plenty to look forward to here. First off, Anthony McGill will be looking to carry on his good form after fighting back from 4-2 down to beat Stephen Maguire in the last 32 and making the Indian Open final last week. He will not have things easy against Walker though he is in good touch after 5-2 wins against Selby and Milkins already this week.
Luca Brecel and Li Hang look in good shape again and are backing up good runs from the China Championship. Li especially has been scoring well this week and has already sent Liang Wenbo and Walden home so will not be fazed against Ebdon who has two nice wins himself already. Brecel could have a battle on against Cao Yupeng who saw off Bingham today and has looked in better touch at the beginning of this season.
Then comes the Chinese number one Ding Junhui against Joe Perry which is one of the picks of the day. Perry has actually won the last three meetings between these two players, including a Masters quarter-final at the beginning of the year. Along with that he saw to Ryan Day today with no trouble whatsoever and was on top form at this venue last season as he made the final in Yushan.
Mark Williams has started the week with two whitewashes but will have a tougher game against Jimmy Robertson if he is to make his third ranking quarter-final of the season, while the man Williams overcame in the 6 Reds final could well topple Kyren Wilson. Un-Nooh has already had two breaks of 142 this week on the way to two comfortable victories and was a semi-finalist in this tournament last season. That game could well go to the wire with Wilson also looking in good form against Michael Holt in the last 32.
Neil Robertson and Mark Allen is another game that could go the distance. Both look to be scoring well so far and Allen in particular has got off to two very quick starts in his opening two fixtures, and if he does so again he could be too hot for the Australian. Although, Robertson does have a very strong head to head record against Allen so clearly enjoys playing against him and for that reason I would side with him.
It still looks like there is plenty left in the tank of last week's winner John Higgins as he takes on David Gilbert. Gilbert himself had a run to the quarters a week ago and has been in good scoring form, but Higgins has had the edge in all of their recent meetings so that is a hurdle Gilbert will have
to get over also.
Once again the matches are over the best-of-9 frames with some top quality matches to look forward to on day four of the World Open.
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