2015 German Masters champion Mark Selby has been beaten at the last 32 stage of this year's competition, falling to Xiao Guodong for the second time this season.
After beating the world champion at the same stage of the English Open, Xiao was able to double the dosage with a 5-3 victory at the Tempodrome. Runs of 88, 80 and 52 saw Xiao move 3-1 ahead at the mid-session break and he could have moved further clear but a good clearance from Selby kept him in it at 2-3. Unfazed, a run of 79 put him one away at 4-2 before he eventually got over the line.
Defending champion Anthony Hamilton is also out of the tournament in the first match at the venue after being thrashed 5-1 by Jimmy Robertson. Hamilton had fought hard to qualify in December to defend his title fully at the Tempodrome in Berlin but he could go no further as Robertson comprehensively came through.
2016 champion Martin Gould is also out of the competition after losing 5-2 to Gary Wilson. Wilson missed the last red on 112 for a maximum break in the third frame of the match on the way to taking a 4-0 lead. Gould fought back to 2-4 and had a good lead in the seventh but Wilson came back and won the frame on the black to secure victory.
In the match of the round, Judd Trump saw off Ben Woollaston 5-3 with both players making two centuries in the eight frames played. Trump had breaks of 109 in the opener, 103 to move 4-3 ahead as well as a 94 in frame five, while Woollaston had a 114 in the second frame and a 104 in the sixth.
Former champion Mark Williams came through a tight match 5-3 against Fergal O'Brien and will now play Matthew Selt in the last 16 after Selt won a deciding frame to beat Masters champion Mark Allen. The recent major winner made a century to force the decider, but would later took to social media to express his views on how difficult it is to play on the outside tables at the Tempodrome, as well as stating that he will not play the tournament again until the issues are sorted.
There were no problems for 2014 winner Ding Junhui as he came through 5-3 against Michael Georgiou with a high break of 131, and he will now face Ricky Walden who secured a victory against Jack Lisowski by the same scoreline.
Shaun Murphy came from 2-0 behind early in his match with Alan McManus with five straight frames to win 5-2 and continue his challenge for the title. Murphy made the high break of the tournament so far with a 138 in the third frame as well as a second century of 104 in the fifth as he moved ahead in the match.
Barry Hawkins will now have to rely on a good performance in next week's Shoot-Out if he is to defend his World Grand Prix title in Preston. Despite cruising into a 3-0 lead against Graeme Dott, the 2006 world champion came back strongly with breaks of 81, 77 and 59 to put himself into the last 16 a 5-3 winner.
Liang Wenbo meanwhile kept his Grand Prix hopes alive with a 5-1 victory over Tom Ford, while Ford will now also have to do the business next weekend in Watford to climb into the top 32 on this season's money list.
Last 32 results:
Jimmy Robertson 5-1 Anthony Hamilton
Gary Wilson 5-2 Martin Gould
Mark Williams 5-3 Fergal O'Brien
Matthew Selt 5-4 Mark Allen
Ding Junhui 5-3 Michael Georgiou
Ricky Walden 5-3 Jack Lisowski
Joe Perry 5-4 Yu De Lu
Judd Trump 5-3 Ben Woollaston
Mark Davis 5-2 Niu Zhuang
Ryan Day 5-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Joyce 5-4 David Gilbert
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Alan McManus
Mei Xiwen 5-1 Hammad Miah
Graeme Dott 5-3 Barry Hawkins
Liang Wenbo 5-1 Tom Ford
Xiao Guodong 5-3 Mark Selby
Last 16 draw: (Picks in bold)
Jimmy Robertson Vs Gary Wilson
Mark Williams Vs Matthew Selt
Ding Junhui Vs Ricky Walden
Judd Trump Vs Joe Perry
Ryan Day Vs Mark Davis
Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Joyce
Graeme Dott Vs Mei Xiwen
Liang Wenbo Vs Xiao Guodong
The last 16 begins with the four matches in the top half of the draw featuring in Thursday evening's play, again over the best-of-9 frames.
Judd Trump will face Joe Perry after a sensational display to beat Woollaston on Wednesday evening. Perry meanwhile needed all nine frames to defeat Yu De Lu and his only break of above 50 in the contest was a 59 in the decider. If Trump plays as he did in round one then Perry will certainly need to up his scoring in order to give the left hander a challenge. The head to head record also favours Trump quite strongly and makes him a worthy favourite for the contest.
Ding Junhui takes on Ricky Walden, with Walden having the slight head to head edge between the two. Ding won the last two games, both of which were in China but he did not beat Walden by much in either game. The Chinese number 1's form is very patchy and with Walden's form improving all the time a good week could be in store for him here in Berlin.
Mark Williams will be looking to continue his pursuit of a second German Masters title as he plays giant killer Matthew Selt. Selt played well on Wednesday evening to defeat Mark Allen 5-4 in a high quality contest and if he continues performing like that then he will certainly give the Welshman something to think about. Williams meanwhile had a tough battle against Fergal O'Brien and he has been in good form of late so it will take a good performance to beat him this week.
Jimmy Robertson and Gary Wilson meanwhile is a big contest with a quarter-final place at stake. Robertson was by far the better player against Anthony Hamilton and thoroughly deserved to win. He has performed pretty consistently this season and it certainly would not be a surprise if he has a good run this week. Wilson saw off Gould by winning the three tight frames of the match in a game that looks as though it could easily have gone the other way. I could see this being a tense affair and one that needs all nine frames to separate the two players.
On Thursday afternoon, the bottom half of the draw takes centre stage. Ryan Day will be looking for a deep run this week as he looks to get back into the top 16 for the Crucible. His last 16 opponent Mark Davis has had a tough season so far and that may have looked like continuing when he was 2-0 down to Niu Zhuang. In the end the low ranked Chinese player could not keep it up and Davis came through, but he will need to play better if he is to beat Day who does have the better of their head to head and was a convincing winner over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
Shaun Murphy moved up through the gears on the way to his first round win against Alan McManus and he will need to be at top gear in the last 16 against in-form Mark Joyce. Joyce came through a very high quality match against David Gilbert that was full of high breaks from both players and he will be full of confidence after a run to the UK Championship quarter-finals. With the way both players are performing right now then you have to think this could be a very high scoring affair and a close encounter.
Graeme Dott and Mei Xiwen will meet for the second time in a week after meeting in the qualifiers for the China Open. Dott came out on top 6-2 on that occasion though there only other meeting saw Mei win 5-0 which balances things out slightly. Dott will be full of confidence after a great comeback win against Hawkins and he certainly has good form at this venue as a twice former semi-finalist. Mei overcame Hammad Miah in the last 32, opening up that contest with a 136 break and following it with a further two 70+ contributions. He will need to score heavily if he is to take charge of the match against Dott but his run in the Shanghai Masters earlier this season shows that he is capable of doing so.
Finally, there is an all-Chinese clash between Liang Wenbo and Xiao Guodong. Liang knows that he needs to play well this week to make it into the Grand Prix and he started off with a comfortable win over Tom Ford who is one of his rivals on that list. It has been a quiet season for the Chinese number 2 but the way that the bottom quarter has opened up he could certainly get on a big run this week and at least match his run to the semi-finals here from three years ago. Xiao will be full of confidence after beating Mark Selby and he too is scoring heavily and could have a major run this week in Berlin, making this a very tough match to call.
A fascinating line-up awaits for the remainder of the tournament with the quarter-finals following very quickly on Friday night, meaning the winners in the bottom half of the draw will be playing twice on the day at the Tempodrome.
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