Last 16 day at the International Championship and as is often the case at this stage of a big event,we the usual mix of one sided matches & closes finishes.
Undoubtedly the performance of the day came from John Higgins who produced the kind of display that was once his trademark to ease past Shaun Murphy 6-0. This on paper looked like the tie of the round,but such was the scoring power on display from Higgins that the writing was on the wall here from early on.Breaks of 56,74 & 62 saw him to 4-0 at the interval,but if anything he stepped up another gear when they resumed & a break of 138 & 78 sealed an impressive victory.
As Higgins was easing his way into tomorrows quarter final the man he will next face was in a fight all the way deciding frame on one of the outside tables,It could all have been much easier for Joe Perry as he stood one frame from victory at 5-2,but back came Ben Woollaston,taking the next three to level at 5-5.Perry though held his nerve in the decider to go through 6-5.
World no.1 Mark Selby was far from his best today ,but in truth he didn't need to be as he was presented chance after chance by his Welsh opponent Michael White.The Leicesterman ran out a comfortable 6-3 winner in the end,but will surely have to up his game in the next round against his old adversary Neil Robertson.
Robertson for his part saw off the challenge of Graeme Dott by a scoreline of 6-1,the decisive moment in this one coming in frame 5 where needing a snooker with just pink & black remaining, Robertson got one and then cleared potted the two remaining balls to lead 4-1.From here he quickly mopped things up with runs of 73 & 75 to seal the win.
In the top half of the draw Mark Allen brought the run of Tian Pengfei to an end with a 6-1 win & will now play Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who beat Zhou Yuelong 6-5.The quarter final line up will be completed by Marco Fu who beat Jimmy Robertson 6-3 & David Gilbert who beat Dings conqueror Ryan Day 6-4
Quarter Finals
Mark Allen v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Marco Fu v David Gilbert
Mark Selby v Neil Robertson
John Higgins v Joe Perry
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