Shaun Murphy was one of the stars of day three at the Indian Open as he reached the last 16 with a 4-1 win over Fergal O'Brien. After coming behind to steal the first frame on the colours, the back to back ranking finalist doubled his lead with a run of 97. O'Brien stayed in the hunt as he won the third frame on the colours after an earlier 51 break, closing the gap to 1-2. Murphy finished in style though with a 125 total clearance to move within one at 3-1 and then got straight back in and made it consecutive centuries to finish with a 105 for the 4-1 win.
John Higgins made it through with a 4-2 win against Martin O'Donnell. The Scot made a high break of 74, while O'Donnell kept the game close with runs of 61 in the second and 82 in the fifth, before Higgins comfortably won the sixth frame to close out victory. Defending champion Anthony McGill is also into Friday's last 16 after beating Rory McLeod 4-1 with highs of 59 and 63.
Mark Allen backed up his flying form of the last 64 against Niu Zhuang with a 4-2 win over Alexander Ursenbacher. Allen took a 3-0 lead in the match with breaks of 58 and 75 along the way but the young Swiss prospect kept himself in the match with a match high 99 in the fourth before then winning a tight fifth to put some pressure on the Northern Irishman. The sixth frame was another close affair but it was Allen who was able to get over the line.
Stuart Bingham made the last 16 in pretty comfortable fashion beating Matthew Selt 4-1 with high breaks of 65, 67 and 68 along the way. He will now play Mark King, who was playing his first match of the week today after a last 64 walkover, as King beat Graeme Dott by the same scoreline.
Riga Masters semi-finalist Ken Doherty continued on his brilliant start to the season by winning his second decider of the week, this time seeing off Sam Baird in a tight affair. Doherty will now play Zhang Anda who won four frames in a row from 2-0 down in the all-Chinese clash with Tian Pengfei.
In a day that featured a few nice turnarounds, Michael Holt also claimed four frames in a row to beat Gary Wilson from 2-0 behind. Wilson opened up in confident fashion with runs of 95 and 79 to take the lead, but from there Holt was dominant with Wilson only scoring a further 31 points in the match. Liam Highfield made the last 16 after turning around a 3-1 deficit to beat Yu De Lu, while David Gilbert claimed the fightback of the day beating Kurt Maflin from 3-0 down, with Maflin earlier making the high break of the day at 135.
Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Anthony McGill Vs Hossein Vafei
Zhang Anda Vs Ken Doherty
Stuart Bingham Vs Mark King
Shaun Murphy Vs Elliot Slessor
Ricky Walden Vs Xu Si
Mark Allen Vs David Gilbert
Liam Highfield Vs Akani Songsermsawad
John Higgins Vs Michael Holt
In the morning session there are a lot of very interesting last 16 matches. The defending champion McGill has a tough test against Iran's Hossein Vafei who I continue to rate very highly and this feels like a week where he could now have a very good run. He has plenty of confidence and always seems to score heavily amongst the balls. Ken Doherty overcame Zhang Anda in the last 16 of the Riga Masters earlier this season on his way to the semi-finals, and for me I still think Zhang lacks a little bit of the consistency required to make the latter stages of tournaments.
Stuart Bingham has quietly gone about his business this week but has had two very comfortable wins and he looks to be playing and scoring better so far this week. He faces a tougher test this time with Mark King but if he can score well I would expect him to just about get the better of King. Shaun Murphy has really hit form in the last couple of rounds with high scoring in his matches with Fergal O'Brien and Hammad Miah, in which he has only dropped one frame and made three centuries. Elliot Slessor has had two nice wins so far against Alan McManus and Joe Perry, winning both matches in deciding frames. Although, after a late finish against Perry he may find it difficult to come back and repeat the dosage against an in-form Murphy.
It is nice to see Ricky Walden getting a couple of good results beating Alfie Burden and Ben Woollaston with some decent scoring. Today against Woollaston he had highs of 61, 71 and 91 as he comes back from back trouble and looks to re-climb the rankings. The 2015 Indian Open runner-up faces Xu Si in the last 16 who is in his debut season and will take a lot of confidence from having a good week so early on. However, you have to favour the class and experience of Walden to get over the line.
Mark Allen and David Gilbert looks like a very tough match to call. Allen has been scoring well so far this week, and as I have mentioned he has been scoring well for a while but hasn't quite been able to put it together for a tournament win. For me, his big week is coming soon and if he carries on as he has been so far in India he could go all the way.
Akani Songsermsawad will be eyeing making the quarter-finals in India for the second season in a row having seen off Dominic Dale comfortably today in the last 32. Add that to his win over Maguire and he is clearly playing well. Liam Highfield has played well against slightly lower ranked opposition and if he scores as well as he can he may be able to hold the unorthodox Akani.
Finally, John Higgins and Michael Holt is going to be another cracking match over the short format. Higgins came back strongly against Zhao Xintong in round one which suggested he was here for the long haul this week. Holt meanwhile has had to recover from slow starts in his matches with Ian Preece and Gary Wilson and scored well in the process against opponents that were doing similar. Over a best-of-7 you have to give Holt a better chance than most players would have against Higgins in the longer formats, especially with some of the results Holt has had in the last year, and I think that a maiden ranking title may not be a million miles away for the Hitman.
Later on Friday in the evening session, the quarter-finals will follow over the same best-of-7 frames format. Here is how the draw looks with the either/or's.
Quarter-Final Draw:
Anthony McGill or Hossein Vafei Vs Zhang Anda or Ken Doherty
Stuart Bingham or Mark King Vs Shaun Murphy or Elliot Slessor
Ricky Walden or Xu Si Vs Mark Allen or David Gilbert
Liam Highfield or Akani Songsermsawad Vs John Higgins or Michael Holt
At the end of tomorrow's play then we will know the final four that will play for the trophy on Saturday and it is shaping up well with the top seeds playing nicely in good conditions out in Visakhapatnam. As always, the event is available to watch on Eurosport Player.
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