John Higgins produced a superb display of snooker to beat Judd Trump 5-4 from 4-0 down in one of the matches of the season I should think, while Shaun Murphy broke Ding Junhui's record of decider wins this season, beating him 5-4 on his own turf, and Marco Fu made 3 centuries in beating century machine Neil Robertson 5-4 on a re-spotted black.
Meanwhile, Mark Selby cruised to an easy victory against Liang Wenbo making 2 centuries to win the match, and there were also easy wins for Alan McManus over Dominic Dale, Graeme Dott over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Mark Allen over Ricky Walden.
Last 16 results:
Mark Allen 5-2 Ricky Walden
John Higgins 5-4 Judd Trump
Graeme Dott 5-2 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Shaun Murphy 5-4 Ding Junhui
Mark Selby 5-1 Liang Wenbo
Alan McManus 5-1 Dominic Dale
Mark Joyce 5-3 Kurt Maflin
Marco Fu 5-4 Neil Robertson
Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in bold)
Mark Selby Vs Alan McManus - Alan McManus has been brilliant this week, picking up some brilliant results against Martin Gould, Robert Milkins and Dominic Dale to get to this stage and his game is very similar to Mark Selby's which will make tomorrows game even more interesting. However, Mark Selby seemed to be nearing something like his best form today with consecutive centuries to finish his match with Liang Wenbo and he's gradually improving throughout the week, so I really fancy him for the job tomorrow.
Marco Fu Vs Mark Joyce - Mark may have pulled off some very good results and performances this week against the likes of Barry Hawkins and a Kurt Maflin who was in very good form, but he hasn't yet had to play on the TV tables which may take some early adjusting to. Marco Fu meanwhile was on fire today against Neil Robertson, with 3 century breaks and if he can find that relentless form again tomorrow it will be too much for Mark Joyce to handle, and many of the players remaining in the tournament.
Mark Allen Vs John Higgins - Mark Allen may be the twice defending champion in Haikou and in the quarter-finals again this week, but it doesn't seem as though he's playing great stuff this week, and I think he'll need to step up his performance if he's to beat John. John Higgins meanwhile played absolutely sublimely today in coming from 4-0 down to beat Judd Trump 5-4, making 2 centuries along the way and he'll be very tough to beat if he can find that form on a consistent basis for the rest of the week. However, with consistency being Higgins problem these days we are in for a very close and tense snooker match.
Shaun Murphy Vs Graeme Dott - Shaun Murphy has been playing brilliantly this week, and he had to again today to beat Ding Junhui, as he will have to again tomorrow to beat Graeme Dott, but with his confidence high he'll really fancy his own chances of winning both this match and the event as a whole. Graeme Dott meanwhile has been playing well again this week and has slightly gone under the radar to reach this stage, and Shaun will be well aware that this is going to be an incredibly tough match against a very gritty player like Dotty who has also been scoring well this week. Although the head to head heavily points in Shaun's favour after he beat Dott in last seasons UK Championships, German Masters and World Championships as well as this years Championship League, but the majority of those matches were very close, just as tomorrows contest will be.
Looking at the players we have left this week, and the form that they are in, we have a great 3 days of snooker ahead of us with some close, entertaining and very tense matches as we reach the climax of the World Open in Haikou.
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