Mark Williams is out at the last 16 stage of the China Championship in Guangzhou after Zhao Xintong came from 3-1 adrift to win 5-3. Williams had won his first three matches for the loss of just two frames and it looked like being similarly easy progress when he went ahead today. Zhao has been in excellent form this season and has already seen off Anthony McGill as well this week and is now into his first ever ranking event quarter-final.
Another young Chinese player that shone on day four was Lu Haotian after he won the final three frames of his match with Shaun Murphy to come through a 5-3 winner. Yuan Sijun meanwhile keeps marching on after backing up his victory against Ding Junhui with a 5-3 win against Mark King to make his first ever ranking quarter-final.
Liang Wenbo and Yan Bingtao failed to join the Chinese trio however. Yan was taken down by Judd Trump 5-1 as he marched into the quarter-finals in imperious fashion, having lost just three frames in his three matches in Guangzhou. Liang meanwhile lost out slightly more surprisingly against Martin O'Donnell. O'Donnell was a 5-2 victor to continue his excellent form having defeated Luca Brecel and Tom Ford already this week.
The all-Scottish clash between John Higgins and Scott Donaldson went the way of the more experienced and higher ranked Higgins 5-3, though Donaldson fought hard and will be happy with his week having beaten Stephen Maguire and Jack Lisowski. World number one Mark Selby won the final two frames to hold off a great fight from Hossein Vafei and win 5-3. Selby had led 2-0 early on before Hossein levelled at 2-2 and kept the game close throughout. Finally, Barry Hawkins booked his spot in the quarter-finals, winning the final three frames against Graeme Dott to go from 2-2 at the interval to a 5-2 win.
Last 16 results:
Martin O'Donnell 5-2 Liang Wenbo
Lu Haotian 5-3 Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump 5-1 Yan Bingtao
John Higgins 5-3 Scott Donaldson
Mark Selby 5-3 Hossein Vafei
Yuan Sijun 5-3 Mark King
Barry Hawkins 5-2 Graeme Dott
Zhao Xintong 5-3 Mark Williams
Quarter-Final draw: (Picks in bold)
Lu Haotian Vs Martin O'Donnell
Judd Trump Vs John Higgins
Mark Selby Vs Yuan Sijun
Barry Hawkins Vs Zhao Xintong
The opening quarter-final sees Lu Haotian face Martin O'Donnell. Both have had some excellent wins in Guangzhou this week and with that in mind it makes it very difficult to separate the two. That proved to be the case in their only previous meeting when O'Donnell had led 6-1 and 9-5 before losing 10-9 in this year's World Championship qualifying. This week, Lu had a walkover in the last 64 after Kyren Wilson's withdrawal, before 5-3 wins against Joe Perry and Shaun Murphy. He looks to be picking up from where he left off last season, having broken into the top 64 inside of one season. O'Donnell meanwhile has already beaten defending champion Luca Brecel and one of the home favourites in Liang Wenbo. His heavy scoring has played a large part in allowing him to cause these upsets and if he can continue that under the pressure of a big quarter-final he is well capable of another impressive win.
John Higgins and Judd Trump is always an exciting match-up and one that has been very kind to the Scotsman over the years. So much so that Trump has only beaten Higgins once in a match that was played over at least the best-of-9 frames. Many of those wins have seen Higgins come from a way behind, including this year's World Championship quarter-final, the 2016 Scottish Open semi-final, a 2014 World Open last 16 where Higgins was 4-0 down before winning 5-4 and the 2012 Shanghai Masters final. Higgins may have been pushed a lot further for his victories this week against Allan Taylor, Mei Xiwen and Scott Donaldson than Judd, who has seen off Rhys Clark, Jamie Jones and Yan Bingtao, but this record must give Higgins a lot of confidence and put Trump psychologically on the back foot from the off.
World number one Mark Selby provides the stern opposition to Chinese Yuan Sijun who is in his first ever ranking event quarter-final. Yuan has beaten Alexander Ursenbacher, Ding Junhui and Mark King to secure his career best run but it will be even harder work if he is to keep it going. Selby has had a couple of tough games against Akani Songsermsawad and Hossein Vafei but has come through strongly in the end and you would expect to see some nerves from his opponent that he could take advantage of. If Yuan can fight off any nerves to produce the heavy scoring that has gotten him this far then he is sure to give Selby a fierce test.
Zhao Xintong is also entering new territory in his first ever ranking quarter-final and he will face in-form Barry Hawkins. Zhao looked incredibly comfortable in defeating Mark Williams in the last 16 and has looked equally comfortable all season, including a victory in the Riga Masters against Shaun Murphy where he was in frightening form. Hawkins had to battle hard against Ashley Carty and then again when he trailed Noppon Saengkham 4-2 in the last 32. It looks like he was in better scoring form against Graeme Dott with a 5-2 win. The Shanghai Masters runner-up lost to Zhao Xintong in last season's Northern Irish Open, but is in much better form now having made at least the semi-finals in the last three Chinese events and in five of his last eight events overall. If both continue their recent form then this match could be set to go the distance.
All four quarter-finals will be available to watch live either on Eurosport TV or the Eurosport Player with matches being played over the best-of-9 frames. The players are guaranteed £20,000 for making the last eight, with an extra £12,000 guaranteed for the four winners ahead of the best-of-11 frame semi-finals.
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