Ding Junhui comes through tough test to make International last 16

Ding Junhui is through to the last 16 of the International Championship after coming through a tough test against Zhao Xintong with a 6-4 victory. 

The 2013 International Champion would have known that the in-form 21-year-old would give him a huge challenge in this last 32 tie, but Ding signalled his intentions in the very first frame of the tie with the match high break of 112. That was followed by a break of 82 in the second to double his lead, before an important clearance in the fourth frame gave him a 3-1 advantage at the interval. Ding would go on to take a sizeable lead at 5-2 before runs of 79 and 91 from his opponent got him back in the contest, though a 72 break in the tenth frame was enough for the Chinese number one to complete the win. 

Meanwhile, the two-time defending champion Mark Selby is still on track for a third International Championship tie after seeing off a late revival from Robert Milkins to complete his 6-4 win. The world number one made breaks of 102 and 131 on the way to taking a 4-1 lead in this contest but Milkins battled back to 4-3 before an important eighth frame went the way of Selby who would hang on and get over the line in frame ten. 

Last year's runner-up Mark Allen showed some superb scoring form on the way to a 6-3 win over Hossein Vafei. The Iranian had taken an early 2-0 lead but would only score another two points in the next five frames as Allen surged ahead. In that spell of five straight frames Allen equalled the high break of 142 made by Alfie Burden on day one, before breaking it with a 146 in the seventh frame, with runs of 53, 54, 68 and 78 sandwiched into the three frames in between the two total clearances, before Allen clinched the match after a break of 65 in the ninth. 

The highest seeded casualty of the last 32 was Barry Hawkins as he was beaten 6-3 by last year's semi-finalist Martin Gould. Marco Fu also lost by the same scoreline, but despite being the higher seed he was favourite to fall against Jack Lisowski, though Fu made two centuries in the contest. 

Ryan Day meanwhile lost out 6-5 to Yan Bingtao in a very tight contest. Day led the match 3-2 before losing three straight frames and falling 5-3 adrift to last year's semi-finalist Yan, who had a high break of 137 in the sixth frame. Day crucially won frame nine on the black after Yan missed attempts at match ball blue, before a break of 133 forced the decider. Day then took a 55-0 lead in the final frame before an error left Yan in and his break of 64 was enough to clinch a place in the last 16. 

There Yan will face Judd Trump, after the fourth seed overcame Michael Holt by a comfortable 6-1 scoreline despite a high break of just 52. Neil Robertson came through in a deciding frame against his practice partner Joe Perry with both players having centuries in the tie, before a run of 76 won it for the Australian in the final frame. Ali Carter meanwhile took out Stephen Maguire for the third year in succession at the last 32 stage in this competition. Previous 6-5 and 6-1 victories were added to with this 6-4 triumph as Carter had seven breaks of over 50, including a high of 107 to clinch victory. 

Last 32 results:

Mark Selby 6-4 Robert Milkins
Stuart Carrington 6-5 Ian Burns
Neil Robertson 6-5 Joe Perry
Yuan Sijun 6-1 Xiao Guodong
Martin Gould 6-3 Barry Hawkins
Jack Lisowski 6-3 Marco Fu
Yan Bingtao 6-5 Ryan Day
Judd Trump 6-1 Michael Holt
Martin O'Donnell 6-0 Tom Ford
David Gilbert 6-5 Eden Sharav
Matthew Stevens 6-5 Mark King
Ding Junhui 6-4 Zhao Xintong
Alfie Burden 6-0 David Lilley
Mark Allen 6-3 Hossein Vafei
Ali Carter 6-4 Stephen Maguire
Akani Songsermsawad 6-3 Zhou Yuelong

Last 16 draw: (Picks in bold)

Mark Selby Vs Stuart Carrington
Neil Robertson Vs Yuan Sijun
Jack Lisowski Vs Martin Gould
Judd Trump Vs Yan Bingtao
David Gilbert Vs Martin O'Donnell
Ding Junhui Vs Matthew Stevens
Mark Allen Vs Alfie Burden
Ali Carter Vs Akani Songsermsawad

At the top of the last 16 draw, defending champion Mark Selby will face comeback king Stuart Carrington. Selby is having a good week so far, coming through a tough match against Li Yuan in tough circumstances before whitewashing Ken Doherty and defeating Robert Milkins 6-4 with five centuries along the way. Carrington meanwhile defeated Anthony McGill in the last 64 and completed a huge turnaround against Ian Burns, having trailed 5-1 and needing a snooker in the seventh frame. All of the previous meetings between these two have gone the way of Selby, including a 6-0 win for the world number one in 2013 UK Championship. Carrington should present a much sterner test five years on than he did there in York, but with Selby scoring well in his last two games that is going to make him very tough to beat. 

Neil Robertson and Yuan Sijun are set for their first meeting and it comes in a period where Yuan is taking a lot of big name scalps. Yuan is bidding for back-to-back Chinese ranking event quarter-finals after beating Ding Junhui on the way to the last eight in the China Championship. Yuan then defeated Mark Allen in the English Open and has set off this week with a 6-2 win against Kyren Wilson before a 6-1 demolition of Xiao Guodong. Neil Robertson meanwhile was a comfortable winner against Matthew Selt before a much tighter match against Joe Perry and he will be expecting another really tough game here against this talented Chinese star. 

Jack Lisowski will be bidding for yet another quarter-final as he faces last year's semi-finalist in Daqing, Martin Gould. Lisowski has been to at least the quarter-finals in four events already this season and will start favourite against Gould to make a fifth. His two victories against Chris Wakelin and Marco Fu have produced plenty of high scoring as we have come to expect from the left-hander and he will need that to continue against Gould. The former German Masters champion comes into this after a big win against Barry Hawkins which may kick start what has been a quiet season so far from, with some early exits and a few non-entries as well. The head-to-head between the two players is pretty even and that could set the tone for what is to come tomorrow if they both bring some heavy scoring. 

Judd Trump and Yan Bingtao are set to meet in the last 16 for the second Chinese ranking event in succession. Back at the China Championship Trump was a comfortable winner but that could be set to change. Trump has won his two games so far this week very easily for the loss of just one frame, but he has not contributed with the heavy scoring that we usually expect from him, or what is being produced by the rest of the field this week. Yan played well against Ryan Day who defeated Trump i the English Open, having previously whitewashed Jimmy White in the last 64. His record against many of the top players is already good and there is every chance that it will get better here, especially if Trump does not up his scoring from the first two games. 

Home favourite Ding Junhui will face former UK and Masters champion Matthew Stevens in the last 16 in Daqing. Stevens is in the last 16 after a 6-4 win over Jordan Brown was followed by a 6-5 victory against Mark King. However, Stevens failed to register a break of more than 50 in the match against King despite getting over the line in the end having been 3-1 down. He will need to score much heavier against Ding and get off to a stronger start if he is to have a chance, though it has not been a simple passage to the last 16 for Ding. His three matches so far in Daqing have all finished 6-4 and if a few close frames here or there would have gone against him he would almost certainly be on his way home. He did look a lot sharper against Zhao Xintong than in his previous two encounters and the last two meetings between these two came at this event with a combined score of 12-3 overall, while the head-to-head has seen Ding win eight of their nine previous outings. 

Mark Allen will face Alfie Burden for a place in the quarter-finals in Daqing. Burden has had two very nice victories so far against Sam Baird and David Lilley for the loss of just two frames, with breaks including 137 and 142. Allen levelled that tournament high break of 142 in the third frame of his second round win over Hossein Vafei before beating it with a 146 just a few frames later. The 146 was Allen's fifth century in just two matches after making three on his way back from 4-0 and 5-2 down to defeat Liam Highfield in the last 64. The scoring that Allen has shown so far this week is phenomenal but Burden is hardly in poor scoring form and will provide another test for Allen who has already come through two dangerous lower ranked opponents. 

Finally, Ali Carter will face Akani Songsermsawad with the Thai hoping to claim another big scalp. That comes after Akani overcame Kyren Wilson in the first round of the English Open before defeating Mark Williams in the last 64 earlier this week. Akani also came close to victory against Ali Carter in their previous meeting at the 2016 English Open and the unorthodox player has certainly improved since then. Carter is in good form though having whitewashed Kurt Maflin and defeated Stephen Maguire with a barrage of 50+ breaks in the last 32, coming into this event after a quarter-final at the English Open. The test for Carter will be keeping his cool against a player who has a quite deliberate style of play that could knock Carter out of his rhythm and see his temper boil over, as it unfortunately does from time-to-time on the table. With Akani in the last 16 here for the second successive year as well as making last season's UK Championship last 16, the young man is starting to look like he suits the longer matches. 

All of the last 16 matches will be played on Wednesday over the best-of-11 frames with four of the eight ties (Trump Vs Yan, Selby Vs Carrington, Robertson Vs Yuan and Ding Vs Stevens) featuring on Eurosport TV or the Eurosport Player.