Stuart Bingham hit the front on day three of the China Open by hitting the tournament's second maximum break on the way to a 6-5 victory against Ricky Walden.
This came after Ronnie O'Sullivan made a 147 in a losing cause in the last 64 against Elliot Slessor, and the pair will now share the combined £42,000 for the rolling 147 bonus and high break prize. Bingham's maximum came in frame seven after Walden had just levelled at 3-3 from 3-1 adrift.
The 2015 World Champion would then go on to take a 5-3 lead only for Walden to fight back again and force a decider. In the end though, a tightly contested decider went the way of Bingham and he is now into the last 16 in Beijing.
Joining him is defending champion Mark Selby as he overcame fellow Leicester player Ben Woollaston 6-3. Selby made two breaks of 135 in back to back frames in taking an early 2-1 lead. This lead would extend to 5-1 despite Woollaston having good chances in each of those three frames. The former Welsh Open finalist was able to extend the match with successive frames, but Selby was too strong and ultimately completed a fairly comfortable victory.
Former winner Ding Junhui played out a flawless final four frames as he won an all-Chinese clash with Xiao Guodong 6-2. From 2-2, Xiao would not score another point after the mid-session interval as Ding produced breaks of 83, 90, 133 and 138.
Mark Williams was also in fine form kicking off his 6-1 win over Michael Holt with breaks of 112, 90 and 93, and he has now set up a last 16 tie with Masters champion Mark Allen. Allen overcame Yan Bingtao to book his place and remain in pole position to qualify automatically for the Crucible. Only six of the last 16 could possibly deny him and each of those players would have to go on and win the tournament. Of these six though, only Graeme Dott has ever won a ranking event.
One of the players that could still make it into the top 16 with a tournament victory is Jack Lisowski after he thrashed John Higgins 6-2. Lisowski had high breaks of 54, 68, 72 and 95 in the victory that saw him win four successive frames from 2-2.
Neil Robertson meanwhile fought back from 4-1 down to defeat Sam Craigie in a deciding frame. In all Robertson hit two tons and a break of 93 to pull things back after a very strong start from Craigie who had delivered four tons to defeat Martin Gould in the previous round.
World Snooker Federation champion Luo Honghao continues to impress, defeating Duane Jones 6-5 to book his place in the last 16 and bag a fourth professional scalp of the tournament. He'll now face Tom Ford after Ford saw off Elliot Slessor 6-4.
Last 32 results:
Mark Selby 6-3 Lu Haotian
Lu Haotian 6-5 Fergal O'Brien
Mark Williams 6-1 Michael Holt
Mark Allen 6-4 Yan Bingtao
Jack Lisowski 6-2 John Higgins
Gary Wilson 6-4 Joe Perry
Kyren Wilson 6-4 Mark King
Ding Junhui 6-2 Xiao Guodong
Zhou Yuelong 6-2 Jak Jones
Neil Robertson 6-5 Sam Craigie
Stuart Bingham 6-5 Ricky Walden
Graeme Dott 6-3 Chris Wakelin
Barry Hawkins 6-1 Michael White
Cao Yupeng 6-2 David Gilbert
Luo Honghao 6-5 Duane Jones
Tom Ford 6-4 Elliot Slessor
Last 16 draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Selby Vs Lu Haotian
Mark Williams Vs Mark Allen
Jack Lisowski Vs Gary Wilson
Ding Junhui Vs Kyren Wilson
Neil Robertson Vs Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham Vs Graeme Dott
Barry Hawkins Vs Cao Yupeng
Tom Ford Vs Luo Honghao
World and defending China Open champion Mark Selby faces a tough tie with young Lu Haotian. Lu came very close to defeating Selby earlier on this season in the European Masters and is into the last 16 after wins against Liam Highfield and Fergal O'Brien so far in Beijing. Selby is really starting to warm up this week and improving by the match it seems after an impressive win over Ben Woollaston. For me, Selby's tactical prowess will be too much for Lu here.
The tie of the round is the in-form Mark Williams take on Masters champion Mark Allen. Williams has had two very comfortable 6-1 wins so far and this will be by far his biggest challenge of the tournament so far. Allen meanwhile was flawless in a 6-1 first round win of his own and took care of the dangerous Yan Bingtao to move closer to Crucible automatic qualification. A win in this match would guarantee his Crucible seeding and this extra carrot may just help to push him on in a very difficult tie here. Allen also has a much superior record against Williams, and has beaten him in each of their last four meetings in Chinese events.
Ding Junhui faces another big Chinese tie against Kyren Wilson. Ding was an emphatic winner when the pair faced off in the World Open final earlier this season, while Wilson came through 5-1 a year ago in the China Open quarter-finals. Ding was flawless in the second half of what looked a tough match up with Xiao Guodong in the last 32, while Wilson was in fine scoring form as he defeated Mark King. Much like many of the last 16 ties, this is another one that is very tough to call and there may not be too much to separate the two players.
Stuart Bingham looks to be coming into fantastic form at the moment. After reaching the Romanian Masters final recently his maximum 147 in defeating a tough opponent in Ricky Walden is another sign that he is a big contender for this title. Graeme Dott has had a good start to the week with wins over Mark Joyce and Chris Wakelin in which he has conceded half the number of frames that Bingham has so far. Both look to be in good form but Bingham has a very good record against Dott so he should be full of confidence coming into this.
Barry Hawkins and Cao Yupeng are another pair of players who look to be in really good form this week. Cao has had a remarkable season reaching two ranking finals, and already this week he has seen off higher ranked opposition in Luca Brecel and David Gilbert. As always though, Hawkins looks to be warming up for another big Crucible run and has beaten Sam Baird and thrashed Michael White so far this week. This really looks like a coin flip match and could well go all 11 frames, though Hawkins should be very confident after recently reaching the Welsh Open final, and such an emphatic win against White is a sign that he is close to the top of his game.
With so many even looking match ups and in-form players it looks like a brilliant last 16 line-up in Beijing as the tournament (and prize money) really starts to heat up.
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