Well done to Stuart Pettman who after 17 years as a professional has made it through to his first ranking event quarter-final. Click below to read about that and the scores from all the other matches today…
Afternoon Session
Results
Dave Harold 3-5 Peter Ebdon
56-3, 10-58, 0-72, 65(52)-32, 0-99(99), 74-37, 20-122(92), 27-60
Ricky Walden 4-5 Stephen Hendry
74(42)-17, 62(41)-52(44), 32-74(35,35), 61-59(53), 1-62(55), 12-82(78), 4-75(75), 128(128)-5, 0-85(68)
Allister Carter 2-5 Stuart Pettman
75(43)-44(37), 121(43,73)-1, 1-65(61), 50(42)-64(62), 17-59(42), 56(56)-82(68), 2-59(54)
John Higgins 5-2 Tian Pengfei
132(132)-0, 27-84(50), 124(44,80)-8, 70(56)-15, 103(103)-0, 0-89(89), 86(38,44)-0
Stuart Pettman has caused something of a sensation here today by knocking out the form player of the tour Ali Carter to reach that elusive first quarter-final after so many years of trying. Pettman, who is ranked down in 62nd place, had only actually reached the last 16 on three occasions before this week so you can imagine how much it will mean to him to defeat the former World Champion to book his place in the last eight.
He had to do it the hard way too as Ali went into a 2-0 lead with breaks of 73, 43 and 43 early on before Stuart reeled off the next five frames to complete a shock comeback. It does not get any easier from here though as awaiting him in the next round will be either Mark Selby or Graeme Dott.
Stephen Hendry meanwhile has continued his resurgence with an excellent 5-4 victory over Ricky Walden, having trailed 3-1 at the mid-session interval. Like in his match yesterday, the first few frames appear to have been quite scrappy and it looked like Hendry might have blown his chance in the last frame before the interval by missing a red down the top cushion to let Ricky clear for 3-1. After the break though he really came out fighting and crucially for him – scoring, breaks of 55, 78 and 75 turning the match right around. Though Ricky responded in great style himself with a run of 128 to force a decider, the momentum was now with the seven-times world champion and he managed to reach only his second quarter-final of the season with a break of 68.
Having already done enough to virtually secure his top 16 place for next season with his win over Robert Milkins yesterday, this result probably makes absolutely sure of it (and incidentally by knocking out Walden, probably helps Ding Junhui out a bit too). What Stephen will now be focusing on will be claiming his first ranking event title since 2005 and who knows, if he can keep scoring heavily then stranger things have happened. In the next round he will face the winner of the tie between Dave Harold and Peter Ebdon who are still struggling on in a match that has predictably been something of a slog.
EDIT: Peter Ebdon has now won 5-3 and will meet Hendry in the next round. This is an excellent result for Peter who like Hendry has endured a nightmare season, but is at least giving himself a confidence boost heading into the World Championship. Another win too would lift him back inside the top 16 on the provisional list so there is a great opportunity now for Peter to save his season.
For Dave Harold though this is a really disappointing result and one that sees his chances of a move back into the top 16 come to end. Overall he has had a really strong season, but last 48 exits in both the UK and World Championship have proved to be fatal.
Following Hendry into the last 8 was another Scottish former world champion in the form of John Higgins who came through a potentially tough test with Tian Pengfei, the conqueror of Marco Fu in the last round. John is not always at his best in tournaments such as this but he started well today with a total clearance of 132 and with a second century of 103 later, managed to secure a comfortable win. Next up for him will be a tie with Xiao Guodong, or a mouthwatering clash with the world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan…
Evening Session
Results
Graeme Dott 5-1 Mark Selby
77(77)-1, 113(109)-5, 83(52)-20, 69-25, 57(57)-61, 91(91)-1
Xiao Guodong 3-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan
1-131(120), 4-125(124), 68(55)-6, 13-118(84), 79-35, 15-61, 71(57)-58, 0-96(96)
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Neil Robertson
Mark King 2-5 Ryan Day
The 2007 China Open winner Graeme Dott has made it a brilliant day for Scotland by joining Hendry and Higgins in the quarter-finals with a fabulous 5-1 victory over world number four Mark Selby.
Having started the season well down the rankings and slid down further following his broken wrist out in Shanghai, Graeme has really started to play well again in 2009 and though by his own admission he is not quite at where he was a couple of years ago, he is not too far away. Now in his first ranking event quarter-final since Shanghai 2007, he needs just one more win to move up into the top 32 provisionally which strangely enough would probably represent a successful season given how things have turned out. Next up for him will be Stuart Pettman who though he has played well to reach the last eight, will go into the match as the underdog.
UK champion Shaun Murphy is through to just his third ranking event quarter-final of the season following an impressive 5-1 victory over Australian Neil Robertson. Robertson did not play well in his first match and it would appear that things did not improve today as Murphy came through and as a result moved back up to number three in the provisional rankings and more importantly, kept his bid for a fourth ranking title right on track.
Next up for Shaun will be Ryan Day who eased past Mark King by a 5-2 scoreline and is enjoying his best run since he made the final of the Grand Prix back in October. Having previously made three ranking event finals, could it be here in Beijing where he finally breaks through to take that first title?
The final match to finish today was that between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Chinese wildcard Xiao Guodong which ended up 5-3 to the world number one. Having started well with two 120+ breaks in the first two frames, Ronnie did allow Xiao back into it slightly but had the experience and the class to come through in the end.
The most interesting moment of the match came in frame five when Xiao placed Ronnie in a hugely difficult snooker, one that after a few attempts Ronnie was insistent that he could not get out of. Referee Leo Scullion disagreed however and following a few more failed attempts and a lengthy verbal exchange between Leo and Ronnie, he finally managed to get out of it at the ninth attempt. Unfortunately for a clearly frustrated O’Sullivan in doing so he had pushed the red on and Xiao cleared for 3-2.
Next up for Ronnie will be a meeting with John Higgins, one of the most interesting match-ups on the tour right now…