Seeds hit back as Shanghai Masters reaches the quarter-final stage

The top seeds struck back on day 4 of the Shanghai Masters, although there were a couple of mild surprises, as the likes of Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham roll on into the last 8 while Graeme Dott is also there after overcoming Shaun Murphy and he's joined by Fergal O'Brien, who ended the run of wildcard Zhao Xintong, Alan McManus who thrashed fellow Scotsman Stephen Maguire and Michael White who was on fire in defeating Ryan Day.


Full Last 16 Results:


Ding Junhui 5-3 Martin Gould
Graeme Dott 5-3 Shaun Murphy
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Dominic Dale
Alan McManus 5-1 Stephen Maguire
Michael White 5-2 Ryan Day
Mark Allen 5-1 Mark Williams
Fergal O'Brien 5-3 Zhao Xintong
Mark Selby 5-3 Michael Holt

Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Graeme Dott - Both of these players were in fine form today against Gould and Murphy respectively today and this should be a really exciting close match. Graeme looked very confident from the start today against Shaun and if he can take that into the game tomorrow, score well and at a good tempo that he played with (along with taking some of the handy luck he had today too) then he has a brilliant chance of victory. Ding is steadily improving as matches go on and he also improved today on his Last 32 match which is what he'll like to see. Having lost the first 2 frames today against Gould he took the next 4 in a row with 3 good convincing breaks in there. If he continues that improvement on to the quarter-finals the home favourite and defending champion is the big favourite here for victory.


Stuart Bingham Vs Alan McManus - Both of these guys had very comfortable victories today against their respective players but both guys completed those victories in differing styles. Stuart's was very clear cut with big breaks including 2 centuries and 2 breaks of 70 odd showing that for a great deal of the match Stuart was killing frames off in one visit, which is something Alan hasn't been doing as much this week. Alan is one of the best match-players in the game and he's showed it this week because in beating Maguire and O'Sullivan this week as he hasn't been making the big breaks like Stuart has by any means but his safety play is impeccable and he knows exactly what he has to do to win matches against the best. Stuart will get chances though and if he takes them like he has so far this week he should win this match but I expect it to be very tense which will play more into the hands of the Scot.


Mark Allen Vs Michael White - Michael White played some incredible snooker today against Ryan Day and quite simply there was very little he could've done about it and if he plays like that against Mark Allen tomorrow he'll win the match. However, to repeat a performance like his one today that included breaks of 104, 78, 128, 62, 71 and 55 is incredibly tough and he will no doubt be feeling the pressure to do so again to achieve his career best ranking event finish of the semi-finals at least. Mark Allen though has been playing incredibly well so far this season and I think he has a brilliant chance to win this title on Sunday, but he has to start by continuing this tomorrow and not giving young Michael too many chances because he's shown this week that he will take them and is capable of the big victories. However, a quarter-final means high stakes something Mark is used to a lot more than Michael and that could be the difference tomorrow.


Mark Selby Vs Fergal O'Brien - One thing you don't need to be told about this match is that it will surely be incredibly hard fought between 2 players that will put everything into the match, leaving nothing in the tank and they'll have to be scraped off of the table. Both guys are in great form at the moment but they're very much at different stages of their careers and that's what's the difference between the 2 guys. Mark is very much at the peak of his career and I have to say that he seems to find a way of winning a match from any position whether he has to come back from a long way behind or whether he has to dig in when a player's coming back at him like Michael Holt did brilliantly today, Mark knows how to get out of every situation and that quite simply is the sign of a true champion.


In my view there is plenty of potential for more "surprises" tomorrow but we're getting to the stage of the tournament where the big seeds start to play their best snooker so it will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.