Defending champion Luca Brecel has crashed out at the last 64 stage of the China Championship losing 5-3 to Martin O'Donnell. Brecel had come through his heldover last 128 match 5-1 against Joe O'Connor but was unable to keep it going against O'Donnell.
It has been plain sailing for world champion Mark Williams though over the opening two days. The Welshman has defeated Rod Lawler in his heldover last 128 tie and then seen off Ken Doherty without dropping a single frame. After winning the World Open earlier this season, the Welshman will have his sights set on back-to-back Chinese ranking titles.
World number one Mark Selby was made to battle hard before coming through his last 64 match with Akani Songsermsawad. Selby had trailed 2-1 before moving ahead 4-2 and eventually got over the line 5-3.
John Higgins also struggled early on in his game with Allan Taylor, falling 2-0 behind before closing out a 5-3 victory, while Jack Lisowski made a similar turnaround in his victory over Kurt Maflin.
Home favourite Ding Junhui is into the last 32 after beating Daniel Wells 5-1, while Shaun Murphy defeated Liam Highfield 5-1 in his first competitive match since the birth of his daughter Molly. Judd Trump wasted little time in beating Rhys Clark 5-0, closing out the match with a century break and Mark Allen was also a comfortable winner against Matthew Selt.
There were a few more upsets though. These included Marco Fu's exit as he relinquished a 3-0 lead to lose out 5-3 to Zhang Anda. Ali Carter made the high break of the tournament so far at 144, but would only win that frame as he fell 5-1 to Fergal O'Brien. Despite fighting back valiantly, Anthony McGill was also a big named casualty losing out in a deciding frame to the ever improving Zhao Xintong. The all-Scottish clash between Stephen Maguire and Scott Donaldson went the way of the outsider Donaldson 5-2 and wildcard Chang Bingyu is into the last 32 after wins over Jimmy Robertson and Robert Milkins.
Last 64 results:
Martin O'Donnell 5-3 Luca Brecel
Tom Ford 5-0 Nigel Bond
Zhang Anda 5-3 Marco Fu
Liang Wenbo 5-3 John Astley
Joe Perry 5-1 Mark Joyce
Lu Haotian W/O Kyren Wilson
Xiao Guodong 5-0 Mark Davis
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Liam Highfield
Judd Trump 5-0 Rhys Clark
Jamie Jones 5-4 Anthony Hamilton
Stuart Bingham 5-3 Peter Ebdon
Yan Bingtao 5-4 Chris Wakelin
Jack Lisowski 5-3 Kurt Maflin
Scott Donaldson 5-2 Stephen Maguire
Mei Xiwen 5-4 Michael White
John Higgins 5-3 Allan Taylor
Mark Selby 5-3 Akani Songsermsawad
Chang Bingyu 5-3 Robert Milkins
Ryan Day 5-1 Mike Dunn
Hossein Vafei 5-3 David Gilbert
Mark King 5-3 Sam Craigie
Mark Allen 5-1 Matthew Selt
Yuan Sijun 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Ding Junhui 5-1 Daniel Wells
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Ashley Carty
Noppon Saengkham 5-2 Xu Si
Neil Robertson 5-2 Gerard Greene
Graeme Dott 5-4 Stuart Carrington
Fergal O'Brien 5-1 Ali Carter
Zhao Xintong 5-4 Anthony McGill
Gary Wilson 5-2 Luo Honghao
Mark Williams 5-0 Ken Doherty
Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold)
Tom Ford Vs Martin O'Donnell
Liang Wenbo Vs Zhang Anda
Joe Perry Vs Lu Haotian
Shaun Murphy Vs Xiao Guodong
Judd Trump Vs Jamie Jones
Stuart Bingham Vs Yan Bingtao
Jack Lisowski Vs Scott Donaldson
John Higgins Vs Mei Xiwen
Mark Selby Vs Chang Bingyu
Ryan Day Vs Hossein Vafei
Mark Allen Vs Mark King
Ding Junhui Vs Yuan Sijun
Barry Hawkins Vs Noppon Saengkham
Neil Robertson Vs Graeme Dott
Fergal O'Brien Vs Zhao Xintong
Mark Williams Vs Gary Wilson
Shaun Murphy is now the only top 16 player left in the opening quarter of the draw, but that does not mean things will be plain sailing for him. Next up he faces Xiao Guodong who has been in good form over the last year or so and defeated Mark Davis comfortably in round one. Xiao was also a comfortable winner when these two met at the 2016 Scottish Open and Murphy has lost four of his last five matches against Chinese opposition, though this may just be coincidental. Having not had the best of starts to the season, Murphy looked good against Highfield in the last 64 and he does have a good record at this event with appearances in a semi-final and final from the two stagings.
Judd Trump and Jamie Jones will be an interesting last 32 tie. Trump looked in good form to whitewash Rhys Clark but is in for a much tougher game here. Jones was a 5-4 winner against Anthony Hamilton, who has had a decent start to the season, in the opening round and should be full of confidence after the way he ended last season in Sheffield. Trump has had a quiet season to date, though it is early days, so it is by no means beyond the realms of possibility that he could fall foul of another big display from Jones.
Jack Lisowski and Scott Donaldson presents an intriguing tie. On paper Lisowski is a strong favourite having continued his rise at the start of the season by making the Riga Masters final, but he did have to battle hard for victory against Kurt Maflin in round one. After an awful start to last season, Donaldson is now back to the sort of form that saw him make the semi-finals of the 2017 Welsh Open. He opened up with a strong win against Maguire and has won both of his previous meetings against Lisowski, so he should be full of confidence and primed to cause another upset.
Another pick of the ties pits world number one Mark Selby against wildcard Chang Bingyu. Chang has at the very least picked up some good experience from this week already with wins over Jimmy Robertson (who he also beaten in the World Open) and Robert Milkins. A match with Selby is likely to be a step too far though, but it could be a very good marker for the future if he can get two or three frames off of the three-time world champion.
China's number one player Ding Junhui takes on fellow Chinese opposition in young Yuan Sijun on Wednesday. The pair met at the World Open and Yuan took the lead in the first half of the contest, before Ding came back to win 5-3. Ding looks in good form thus far, but it will be interesting to see how Yuan gets on this time around if he is able to put himself in position to potentially take Ding out.
Barry Hawkins will take on Noppon Saengkham in a repeat of February's Welsh Open semi-final. Noppon made another semi-final recently at the World Open, though he could have beaten Mark Williams in that game and potentially gone on to win the competition, which shows the threat he poses to the Englishman. Hawkins though is in good form in China of late, having been to two finals and a semi-final of his own in the last three Chinese events. Hawkins had to battle hard against Ashley Carty but came good late on for a 5-3 victory, while Noppon needed one less frame to get through against Xu Si in the last 64.
Fergal O'Brien and Zhao Xintong are set to meet for the second Chinese ranking event in a row after O'Brien overcame Zhao in the last 64 of the World Open. O'Brien went on to make the last 16 there and will be targeting the same again here with another win against the young Chinese player. I mentioned in my preview an expectation on them both to win their first round games against higher ranked opposition. Zhao led early before McGill came back at him, while O'Brien won easily against Carter and scored well making a century in the win.
Finally, world champion Mark Williams faces a tough tie against Gary Wilson. Williams has not been tested greatly so far having won both his matches without dropping a frame, while Wilson was a 5-2 winner against Luo Honghao in the last 64. In the first Chinese ranking event of the season, Wilson impressed making the quarter-finals and having previously been a finalist at the China Open he appears to perform well in China. Add in a semi-final at this year's Welsh Open and Wilson appears to be improving all the time, but Williams should be as confident as ever and will certainly not fear any of his opponents this year which will continue to make him incredibly dangerous.
All of these last 32 matches are over the best-of-9 frames on Wednesday, with places in Friday's last 16 and at least another £5,500 at stake.
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