61st seed Robbie Williams took the scalp of another top name on day four of the International Championship as he thrashed Neil Robertson 6-2 to make the quarter-finals.
Williams has flourished since his first round walkover, beating Joe Perry in the last 32 to set up a last 16 tie with his practice partner Robertson. He was off to a flying start as well with a 74 break in frame two helping him to a 2-0 lead, before Robertson got his first frame on the board with a 104 break. The next three frames all went to the cue of the lower seeded player though, with a break of 65 in the sixth frame making it 5-1 to Williams and putting his Australian opponent in all sorts of trouble.
He did manage a second century of the game, as he extended the match with a 121 but it did not delay the inevitable for too long as Williams quickly completed victory. The win now means that he will pick up the biggest cheque of his career with £21,500 guaranteed for making it to the last eight.
There Williams will face the world number one Mark Selby who kept up his title defence with a good victory against Welshman Mark Williams. After the first four frames of the match were shared, the pair got their heavy scoring shoes on after the mid-session interval. Selby came straight out with a run of 129 to move 3-2 ahead but Williams was swiftly level with a break of 101 which was then followed with a run of 80 to put him 4-3 in front. Things were looking good in the next until a 73 counter break from Selby saw him come from 50 points down to take the frame on the colours. From there he was the stronger player and completed a 6-4 win without Williams scoring another point in the match, finishing with runs of 73 and 67.
Ali Carter completed another impressive victory to put himself into the quarter-finals, seeing off Shaun Murphy 6-2. Carter had made three centuries in a 6-1 thrashing of Stephen Maguire in the last 32 and carried that form on here. The pair traded centuries with Carter's 136 in frame three being followed by Murphy's own 138 to put them all square at the mid-session break. From there, Carter won a series of frames in which both players had chances and each put a dagger into the hopes of Murphy, when a 72 in the seventh helped him to a 5-2 lead. A run of 53 in the eighth frame got the job done and Carter will fancy his title chances strongly if he continues to play as he has been this week.
He will face Martin Gould in the quarter-finals after Gould held off a strong fightback from Robert Milkins. Having fallen 4-0 behind in the last 32 against Kyren Wilson, it was Gould this time who was 4-0 up at the interval, making contributions of 58, 65 and 77 in the process. Runs of 63 and 86 after the break got Milkins back into things at 2-4, but Gould steadied the ship with a 72 break to go within one of victory. Milkins though picked up another two frames aided by a 76 in the ninth frame to get back to within one of Gould at 4-5 and ensure a close finish. The 2016 German Masters champion held strong though and secured his spot in the last eight with a 70 break to win 6-4.
Judd Trump is also into the quarter-finals after making another two centuries (109 and 118) and a further three 80+ breaks (80, 81 and 89) in his 6-3 win over Liang Wenbo. Scoring like this has seen Trump on top so far this week and makes him a huge threat to win a second International Championship crown.
Another former champion also made it through, as John Higgins completed a simple 6-1 demolition of Mark Joyce with a high break of 113. Joyce cannot complain of a lack of chances though, scoring at least 50 points in three of the frames that Higgins would go on to win in the contest.
Chinese sensation Yan Bingtao has put himself into his second ranking event quarter-final in less than a year and a half on the tour, continuing his strong run in Daqing by seeing off in-form Jack Lisowski 6-4. Yan was off to a strong start with breaks of 98 and 103 in the opening two frames. Lisowski's runs of 93, 114 and 50 in the three frames after the interval saw him move 4-3 ahead but the key frame looked to be the eighth, going to the 17-year-old on the colours and that seemed to end the hopes of Lisowski as would only score another four points in the contest.
Mark Allen completed the line-up for the last eight by coming through an epic contest with Martin O'Donnell that featured five century breaks. O'Donnell opened strongly with breaks of 52, 100 and 109 giving him an early 3-0 lead. Allen hit back with consecutive frames including a run of 83 in the fourth to close to 2-3, before O'Donnell's third century, a 118, put him 4-2 in front. The Northern Irishman then made consecutive centuries of 131 and 114 to level a stunning match at 4-4. A 52 in the ninth put O'Donnell a frame from victory, but Allen quickly ensured the match was going the distance with an 86 in frame ten, and took the upper hand in frame eleven with an early 58. O'Donnell came back into the frame but it was Allen that would eventually take out a 6-5 win on the colours.
Last 16 Results:
Mark Selby 6-4 Mark Williams
Robbie Williams 6-2 Neil Robertson
Ali Carter 6-2 Shaun Murphy
Martin Gould 6-4 Robert Milkins
Judd Trump 6-3 Liang Wenbo
Mark Allen 6-5 Martin O'Donnell
Yan Bingtao 6-4 Jack Lisowski
John Higgins 6-1 Mark Joyce
Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Selby Vs Robbie Williams
Ali Carter Vs Martin Gould
Judd Trump Vs Mark Allen
John Higgins Vs Yan Bingtao
Tomorrow will be the fifth time that Robbie Williams has faced Mark Selby, and despite the fact that Selby has won all five of these matches, Williams has come close with three of those meetings going down to deciding frames in the best-of-7 frames format. Selby has not been convincing necessarily with tight matches in the last three rounds, but he has come through against strong opposition and once again proves difficult to beat over the best-of-11 frames format. In terms of the money on offer, this is the biggest match of Robbie Williams career so far but he does have strong victories against Neil Robertson and Joe Perry to give him some confidence as he takes on the best player in the world.
Ali Carter has been in strong form so far this week, comfortably dispatching Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire to make the quarter-finals, where he faces another tough opponent in Martin Gould. Gould has scored well in his victories over Kyren Wilson and Robert Milkins in the last two rounds and that is usually a mark that he is in good touch and up for the challenge. Amazingly, this will only be the second time that these two have met outside of the Championship League, with the first being the semi-finals of this year's German Masters. On that occasion, Carter came out on top 6-2.
Mark Allen and Judd Trump for me is the pick of the quarter-finals. Trump has been on top form this week, already making seven centuries in his three matches and carrying on from his great performances in Lommell where he would take the European Masters title. Allen has had to battle hard to make it this far, using 32 of a possible 33 frames at the venue this week to make the quarter-finals. He had to come from 5-3 down against Mark King and 3-0 down against O'Donnell but has still scored well in these matches, making three centuries of his own. Allen also has a slight edge on the head-to-head despite losing their last meeting in the European Masters quarter-finals, though Allen fought back well there from 3-0 down to force a deciding frame.
Yan Bingtao and John Higgins are yet to play in Yan's short time on tour, in which he has already made a big impact. His results against top players like Murphy and Selby show he is more than capable of performing at this level, as does the demolition job he performed on Ronnie O'Sullivan in this weeks Last 64. Higgins has had some quite easy wins but has not needed to score heavily as yet, while Yan has been scoring for fun so far and looks very solid. I genuinely think that Yan could break through and win a title sooner rather than later and victory here against a top player like Higgins would be a huge statement that this is possible.
Once again the quarter-finals will be over the best-of-11 as the players compete for places in the best-of-17 frame semi-finals that are to follow on Friday and Saturday.
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