Holt beats Neil Robertson while Higgins is also through in Guangzhou

Michael Holt added to his World Championship victory against Neil Robertson from back in April by beating him 6-5 in the first round of the China Championships. Also on the day John Higgins came through against Mark Williams, while Shaun Murphy survived a scare to beat Joe Perry and Stuart Bingham recorded an easy win against Liang Wenbo.

There was never more than a frame in the match between Michael Holt and Neil Robertson, and Holt was never behind as he won every one of the odd numbered frames to edge back in front after the Australian levelled. The 'Hitman' saved his highest break of the match for the deciding frame, making a 74 there that was added to other breaks of 69, 68, 61 and 54 in the match. Neil Robertson made the match high break with a 76 in the second frame but he could never really get going thereafter affording Holt a number of opportunities through the match. 

The Nottingham man will now play 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham as Bingham avenged his 6-5 English Open semi-final defeat with a 6-2 win over Liang Wenbo. Bingham started as he meant to go on with a flawless 122 break on the way to taking a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval. A tight frame after the break extended Bingham's lead and despite being pulled back to 2-4, he was soon over the line dominating the final two frames as Liang only scored another four points in them and Bingham added a break of 71 to his earlier century. 

Shaun Murphy won a very up and down encounter with Joe Perry (who will now have to rely on Holt and John Higgins NOT winning this event in order to secure a place in the Champion of Champions - where he would play Murphy again). Starting with a century of 121, Murphy added runs of 80, 83 and 85 in the next three frames to storm into a 4-0 intermission lead and look very comfortable. A break of 75 in the fifth got Perry on the board and despite needing more than one chance in each of the next three, Perry had soon clawed his way back to all square at 4-4. From there the Magician had to dig in and pull a rabbit out of the hat to turn his fortunes around winning the ninth before making a clearance of 62 (much to his relief I'm sure) and take a 6-4 win. 

John Higgins was the over winner on day two in Guangzhou in a high quality match with Mark Williams. The Welshman won the opening frame on the colours pulling out some brilliant pressure pots after earlier chances for both players. Higgins dominated the next two with runs of 68 and a match high 88 to lead 2-1 before Williams made 54 and tied the contest going into the break. He then edged ahead at 3-2, before the Scot hit back with another two frames in a row, including taking the seventh frame on the black to lead 4-3. The left hander made a swift 69 to level again at 4-4 but in the end Higgins was just too strong with contributions of 68 and 58 assisting him in the last two frames to secure a 6-4 win. 

Quarter-final Draw and Schedule:

6.30am UK Time:

Mark Selby Vs Mark Allen
John Higgins Vs Ali Carter

11.30am UK Time:

Shaun Murphy Vs Marco Fu
Stuart Bingham Vs Michael Holt

World Champion and last week's International Championship winner Mark Selby continued his strong form by beating Anthony McGill in round one and he will be very hard to beat this week. Mark Allen looked in great touch against Ricky Walden though coming from 1-3 down with a couple of centuries and he will fancy his chances here, particularly with a good overall record against Selby.

John Higgins meets Ali Carter yet again, for what will be their fifth match in the last 12 months. Higgins won the first two at the back end of 2015 at the Champion of Champions and then the UK Championships. Carter however won the last two both of which were in China, and he has had the benefit of an extra days rest over Higgins.

Shaun Murphy has lost to Marco Fu on the last three occasions that they have played each other but he played well against Joe Perry, particularly early on in the match. Fu's win against Ding featured a lot of tight frames later on in the match and that will be something Murphy will want to avoid tomorrow, particularly based on their more recent encounters.

Finally, Stuart Bingham will meet Michael Holt for the second tournament in succession after Bingham's 6-5 win in the International quarter-finals. Bingham was 4-0 up there before being pegged back to 4-4 in a tense affair, so Holt will not be coming into this with trepidation after his recent results and having beaten the World Number 2 in June's Riga Masters.

Once again the quarter-finals are played over the best-of 11 frames and two tables on Thursday.