The last 64 of the UK Championships saw the shock exit of the world number one and defending champion Mark Selby, as Scott Donaldson produced one of the performances of his life to send him packing.
Things actually started quite well for Selby has went 2-0 up and you could have been fooled into thinking this would be a comfortable afternoon for the world champion. However, Donaldson hit back with an 88 in the third frame, starting a run of three successive frames that would go to the Scottish youngster. Selby levelled the contest at 3-3 but could only sit and admire in the final three frames.
It looked as if Donaldson had really removed a monkey from his back after beating John Astley to record his first win of the 2017/2018 season, and it showed as he finished with confident breaks of 90, 77 and 84 to win the final three frames in three scoring visits and completely shut out Selby.
Also surviving a massive second round scare was fifth seed Shaun Murphy as he won the last two frames to defeat Liam Highfield 6-5. Murphy led 3-1 at the interval and had maintained that two frame cushion at 4-2, with a high break of 96, before Highfield came back into the contest. A key eighth frame that Highfield won on the black levelled the scores at 4-4 before Highfield moved 5-4 ahead. The left-hander had his chances in the tenth to seal victory but Murphy was able to win that one on the black to force a deciding frame.
Again, both players had chances in the decider but it was ultimately the Magician who worked his way out of a tough situation and into the last 32.
Things were also not plain sailing for John Higgins. His highest break in the match was only 59, but still ran out into a 5-2 lead against Cao Yupeng. The in-form Chinese player survived a scare to win the eight and then took the ninth with a run of 56 to really put the pressure on Higgins at 4-5. However, the number four seed was able to hold his nerve and win the tenth comfortably to complete victory.
There was no such trouble for Ronnie O'Sullivan as he continued his good form with a 6-1 defeat of Michael Georgiou with a high break of 82 in the final frame. Judd Trump meanwhile whitewashed Chris Wakelin despite a high break of just 61 which is slightly out of tune with Trump's usual high scoring form.
Luca Brecel finished with two centuries in a 6-3 defeat of Aditya Mehta, and he will now face Mark King who missed the pink on 134 for a potential 147 break in his victory over Mike Dunn.
Meanwhile, victories for Ryan Day, Neil Robertson and Liang Wenbo mean the race for the Masters will continue into the last 32.
Last 64 Results:
Scott Donaldson 6-3 Mark Selby
Li Hang 6-4 Robert Milkins
Mark Williams 6-2 Andrew Higginson
Ryan Day 6-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Neil Robertson 6-2 Ken Doherty
Mark Joyce 6-4 David Gilbert
Lu Haotian 6-3 Peter Ebdon
Marco Fu 6-4 Zhao Xintong
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Liam Highfield
Jimmy Robertson 6-5 Alan McManus
Kyren Wilson 6-4 Yu De Lu
Ricky Walden 6-5 Jamie Jones
Luca Brecel 6-3 Aditya Mehta
Mark King 6-4 Mike Dunn
Yan Bingtao 6-1 Ben Woollaston
John Higgins 6-4 Cao Yupeng
Judd Trump 6-0 Chris Wakelin
Graeme Dott 6-5 Dominic Dale
Liang Wenbo 6-1 Mitchell Mann
Stephen Maguire 6-0 Jak Jones
Kurt Maflin 6-2 Jimmy White
Joe Perry 6-3 Jack Lisowski
Peter Lines 6-2 Xu Si
Mark Allen 6-4 Oliver Lines
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Michael Georgiou
Michael White 6-1 Matthew Selt
Barry Hawkins 6-2 Hammad Miah
Akani Songsermsawad 6-4 Michael Holt
Hossein Vafei 6-5 Anthony McGill
Martin Gould 6-2 Robbie Williams
Xiao Guodong 6-1 Tom Ford
Noppon Saengkham 6-0 Leo Fernandez
Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold)
Li Hang Vs Scott Donaldson
Mark Williams Vs Ryan Day
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Joyce
Marco Fu Vs Lu Haotian
Shaun Murphy Vs Jimmy Robertson
Kyren Wilson Vs Ricky Walden
Luca Brecel Vs Mark King
John Higgins Vs Yan Bingtao
Judd Trump Vs Graeme Dott
Liang Wenbo Vs Stephen Maguire
Joe Perry Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen Vs Peter Lines
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Michael White
Barry Hawkins Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Martin Gould Vs Hossein Vafei
Xiao Guodong Vs Noppon Saengkham
The matches in quarters one and three feature in Monday's play with quarters two and four playing on Tuesday and there are some fantastic matches to look forward to.
The eye is immediately drawn to Mark Williams and Ryan Day in a clash that will have large Masters implications. Day of course is currently 16th on the provisional Masters list and needs to match or better the performance of Neil Robertson this week. With Robertson likely to beat Mark Joyce and in awesome form after making three successive tons in both of his first two matches, Day will be under huge pressure to beat Williams. He has done well so far with a 6-3 win in there against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but Williams is in fantastic form and will be feeling confident coming into this one.
Another match that could have Masters implications is that of Liang Wenbo and Stephen Maguire. Maguire has only dropped one frame this week while Liang has only dropped two so both look in good form thus far and that could produce a very close match. It is still possible that if Liang loses tomorrow, a meeting between Day and Robertson in the quarter-finals would mean Liang is out of the Masters himself, victory though would put him a step closer to safety. Maguire has not quite fired since making the Riga Masters final, though Liang has not shown much this season as yet either so this is a tough one to call.
Judd Trump faces Graeme Dott in a match where many will expect Trump to come out on top, yet Dott has had a couple of good wins against Trump in the past. One of those was this year in the China Championship and Dott has been in decent form this year making a couple of last 16's already and I would not be surprised to see him push Trump close here.
Marco Fu came through a tight contest with young Chinese sensation Zhao Xintong and now faces another player meeting that description in Lu Haotian. Lu will give Fu a good test having already thrashed Anthony Hamilton and beaten Peter Ebdon as well as coming into this event from a semi-final in Belfast.
Joe Perry has been in good form this week so far and is starting to come back to something that looks close to his best, while Kurt Maflin has also been in decent form of late after a good run in Shanghai and has made it this far by ending Jimmy White's run in the last 64.
Xiao Guodong still looks a danger at the bottom of the draw. He overcame an ill Tom Ford 6-1 after a 6-0 drubbing of Chen Zifan and now faces Noppon Saengkham. Noppon reached this stage by beating Ding's conqueror Leo Fernadez 6-0 but will need to be on top form to beat the heavy scoring Xiao.
Michael White has also been in heavy scoring form and now holds the new high break after a 142 in defeating Matthew Selt 6-1. He now faces a very tough test against Ronnie O'Sullivan but he has all of the tools to overcome the Rocket in my opinion. If he can play his best stuff and take his chances, White is more than good enough at the highest level and has looked confident ever since re-entering the winners circle in late August.
Yan Bingtao and John Higgins is another mammoth tie. Yan is in fantastic form and full of confidence right now. He has shrugged off a 9-8 loss in his first ever ranking final with two easy 6-1 wins to reach the last 32 in York. His confidence must be through the roof after reaching a first semi-final in late October and then bettering that a month later. His run to the semi's in the International Championship featured a thrashing of Higgins and I could see the same happening here if Higgins does not start well. He looked shaky at times against Cao Yupeng and will know he needs to up his game here against Yan.
Ricky Walden fought back well to beat Jamie Jones in the last 64 and now faces Kyren Wilson in a match I think will go close. It looks to me as if Walden is slowly growing in confidence and his scoring is showing signs of improvement which is a huge positive, so perhaps a big run from Walden is not too far away.
Martin Gould looks to be scoring well and has been in good form after making the International Championship semi-finals and the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals recently. He has already made light work of Joe Swail and looked to up that performance in his victory over Robbie Williams. Gould now faces a good test against Hossein Vafei. Hossein has showed us a few times what he is capable of and displayed that again by overcoming Anthony McGill. Despite losing four frames in a row from 3-0 up he came back to win in a deciding frame and that is the sort of fight he has shown plenty of and that Gould can expect here.
All matches in the last 32 are played over the best-of-11 frames once more and now all of the action will take place in the main arena with the Sports Hall finished with for another year now that the tournament is down to four tables.
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