It's turning out to be the tournament for the underdog at the Wuxi Classic as some different faces, both old and new, have made it through to Last 16 stages of the seasons first ranking event.
David Morris, who got back on the tour through the 3rd Q School in May, beat Gerard Greene 5-2 with top breaks of 103, 77 and 51 to set up a Last 16 encounter with Ali Carter. This is a fantastic start to the season for Morris and is just one example of what this new Flat 128 structure could bring this season.
Scott Donaldson also continued his start to the season by beating Jimmy Robertson 5-4, and will now play Robert Milkins for a place in the quarters. Donaldson is really starting to fulfil his potential after a slow start in his first year as a pro, following a quarter-final in the Bulgarian Open and a run into the semi-finals of the APTC1, with his best ranking event performance to date.
There were also some of the older guard getting through as Anthony Hamilton put in a fine display to see of last years runner-up Stuart Bingham 5-2, with highs of 64, 72, 73 and 80. Hamilton's reward for that great performance is a match-up with Mark Williams who battled back hard to beat Jack Lisowski 5-4 having been 3-1 and 4-3 down. Hopefully this could be the start of better things for Williams who struggled for form last season, and has been working hard to improve during the summer. After today's win I can see Mark going far in this tournament and maybe even winning it with how it's opened up.
A special mention must also go to Peter Lines who followed up victory yesterday over Mark Allen with another good win today against Andrew Higginson 5-2. It seems that Higginson was once again punished for missed opportunities something he is all to guilty of. If Higginson is ever going to break through he must sort this part of his game out, losing matches that he's had enough opportunities to win. Lines will now meet Stevens who has gone under the radar a bit in this event so far, just as he always seems to do when he reaches the latter stages of an event. However, Stevens has as good as chance as any of walking away with the win, especially the way that the draw has opened up with only 5 top 16 players left standing.
Last 32 Results:
Robert Milkins 5-3 Jimmy White
Scott Donaldson 5-4 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 5-4 Jack Lisowski
Anthony Hamilton 5-2 Stuart Bingham
Ben Woollaston 5-2 Joel Walker
Cao Yupeng 5-4 Barry Hawkins
Mark King 5-4 Marco Fu
Neil Robertson 5-2 Martin Gould
David Gilbert 5-2 Alan McManus
Joe Perry 5-1 Ding Junhui
John Higgins 5-1 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Xiao Guodong 5-4 Li Hang
Peter Lines 5-2 Andrew Higginson
Matthew Stevens 5-3 Liang Wenbo
Ali Carter 5-0 Lu Haotian
David Morris 5-2 Gerard Greene
Last 16 Draw and Predictions:
7.30am UK Time:
Robert Milkins Vs Scott Donaldson - Hard to say on Donaldson's form, tough to go against him but I fancy that Milkins will break into the top 16 this season, so Milkins win for me
Mark Williams Vs Anthony Hamilton - Tipping good things after today for Williams so I fancy him for victory here.
Ben Woollaston Vs Cao Yupeng - Both are great players, but Cao whitewashed Woollaston in the APTC1 he may have a slight edge
Mark King Vs Neil Robertson - Robertson playing well and when he's scoring well he takes some stopping, King can cause a shock but have to go for Neil Robertson
12.30pm UK Time:
David Gilbert Vs Joe Perry - Perry is in great form at the moment and can go far here, Gilbert is scoring well but Perry will take some stopping.
John Higgins Vs Xiao Guodong- if Xiao isn't careful here Higgins could have this won before it has started the way he is playing.
Peter Lines Vs Matthew Stevens - Mentioned earlier that Stevens could go under the radar and could prove a bit too much for Lines on this occasion, who may not have another big performance in him this week.
Ali Carter Vs David Morris - Morris has played well this week, but Carter's big match experience might prove this to be a step too far for young Morris this week. Make no mistake though, Morris is definetly one to watch this season and will have a lot more runs and results like this in him.
Will return tomorrow for Last 16 round-up and Quarters preview.
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