Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui all recorded whitewash wins in the Last 64 of the China Open in Beijing on Tuesday, while Judd Trump continued his form with a 5-1 win over Ashley Hugill.
There was drama for Selby and Ding in their heldover games on day one. Selby was 2-0 down to Adam Stefanow before coming through, while Ding Junhui was docked a frame for a logo dispute in his win over Sean O'Sullivan.
On day two, Gareth Allen received a thrashing from O'Sullivan, while Alfie Burden and Paul Davison were the respective victims for Selby and Ding. However, there was an exit for one of the other Chinese favourites as Liang Wenbo succumbed to Rory McLeod in the Last 64.
Xiao Guodong lost out 5-3 to Kyren Wilson, while Zhou Yuelong overcame Matt Selt to set up a Last 32 meeting with Ding on Wednesday. There are two other remaining home players in the Last 32 as Tian Pengfei upset the odds to beat Anthony McGill 5-2, and Li Hang came through despite a spirited fightback from Aditya Mehta.
The scoring over the course of the first two days has also been very heavy. Shaun Murphy made three century breaks on the way to victory in the very first session of the week against Allan Taylor. Michael White also made three in his win over Yu De Lu. Judd Trump made two centuries against Ashley Hugill to go with three more that he had made in his heldover match with Jason Weston.
Joining the century club with at least one in the Last 64 were: Rory McLeod, Ben Woollaston, Gary Wilson, Zhang Anda (with a break of 140 in the only frame he got on the scoreboard against Mark Williams), David Gilbert (also in a losing effort, Martin O'Donnell (with two centuries), Ricky Walden, both Kyren Wilson and Xiao Guodong (who were playing each other), as well as Rhys Clark, Mark Joyce, Aditya Mehta, Ding Jumhui and Mark Selby.
There was an end to the hopes of automatic World Championships qualification for Joe Perry, as he lost 5-2 to Hossein Vafei Ayouri. The defeat means Perry, who was 17th in the provisional seedings before the tournament, will have to win three matches to make the Crucible. Martin Gould kept his hopes alive but he still needs to make the semi-finals, while Ricky Walden must make the final and tournament wins are required for Stephen Maguire, Michael Holt and Mark Williams (with Williams and Holt meeting in the Last 32).
Last 64 Results:
Judd Trump 5-1 Ashley Hugill
Eden Sharav 5-0 Ross Muir
Tian Pengfei 5-2 Anthony McGill
Marin Gould 5-1 Fan Zhengyi
Mike Dunn 5-3 Andy Hicks
Rory McLeod 5-2 Liang Wenbo
Ben Woollaston 5-3 Kurt Maflin
Hossein Vafei Ayouri 5-2 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Allan Taylor
Gary Wilson 5-3 Graeme Dott
Michael White 5-3 Yu De Lu
Ali Carter 5-0 Stuart Carrington
Mark Williams 5-1 Zhang Anda
Michael Holt 5-3 Jimmy White
Mark Davis 5-4 Rhys Clark
John Higgins 5-1 Ian Burns
Stuart Bingham 5-3 Scott Donaldson
Noppon Saengkham 5-3 Robert Milkins
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Xiao Guodong
Sanderson Lam 5-4 Mark King
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-0 Gareth Allen
Mark Joyce 5-4 Fraser Patrick
Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Matt Selt
Ding Junhui 5-0 Paul Davison
Daniel Wells 5-3 Jamie Cope
Matthew Stevens 5-1 Alan McManus
Li Hang 5-4 Aditya Mehta
Stephen Maguire 5-3 Fergal O'Brien
Ricky Walden 5-1 Niu Zhuang
Andrew Higginson 5-3 David Gilbert
Martin O'Donnell 5-0 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Selby 5-0 Alfie Burden
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Judd Trump Vs Eden Sharav
Martin Gould Vs Tian Pengfei
Mike Dunn Vs Rory McLeod
Ben Woollaston Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Shaun Murphy Vs Gary Wilson
Ali Carter Vs Michael White
Mark Williams Vs Michael Holt
John Higgins Vs Mark Davis
Stuart Bingham Vs Noppon Saengkham
Kyren Wilson Vs Sanderson Lam
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Joyce
Ding Junhui Vs Zhou Yuelong
Matthew Stevens Vs Daniel Wells
Stephen Maguire Vs Li Hang
Ricky Walden Vs Andrew Higginson
Mark Selby Vs Martin O'Donnell
With the good standard set by some of the top players in round one I would expect that to continue in the Last 32. Judd Trump is in excellent form, while Selby and Ding are scoring very well, as is Shaun Murphy. Michael White played very well in round one and it was a tough call to go against him in the match with Carter, but for me Carter has the tactical edge. Kyren Wilson looked to play well against Xiao Guodong based on the breaks he made there against a tough opponent. Ricky Walden's lower back complaints are a worry for him, though he has said he is feeling a little better.
Andrew Higginson scored an impressive win against David Gilbert and is much better than his ranking would tell you, and I think he has a good chance against Walden. Based upon his posture it is no surprise that he gets lower back problems, though there was also mention of a shoulder injury from the the recent past in the interview he conducted for World Snooker after his match today. As someone who is similarly tall and has issues with posture, I frequently get lower back pains, though there may have been another issue for Walden. I personally had a fall a couple of years ago that resulted in a trapped nerve in the neck that produced back shoulder, neck and back pain at the time and this is still something I suffer with on and off, so I sympathise with Walden because putting the hours of practice can be very difficult with injuries that have a direct effect on your ability to get down on the shot freely. Not only that but stretching for certain shots can be a pain.
Enough about injuries though, and back to the snooker. Stephen Maguire's China form appears to be better than his form in the UK and Europe lately so again it would not surprise me if he had a good run. His match today against Fergal O'Brien was always going to be a tough one so he must have played well to come through. The all Welsh clash with Daniel Wells and Matthew Stevens is an intriguing one. Both have had pretty good seasons, with Stevens sitting 38th on the provisional one season list, and Wells 43rd which is above their current two year ranking in both cases.
This should be another good day of snooker and I expect the standard of scoring to continue, the matches are all the best-of-9 frames. The top half of the draw all play in the session taking place at 7am UK time, while the bottom half of the draw compete at 12.30pm UK time to set up Thursday's Last 16.
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