Eight men remain in the hunt to be crowned world snooker champion this night week and it must be said, a case can be made for all of them.
Before we get into what might happen in the last eight though, we'll quickly run through the last of the round two action today.
Judd Trump finally showed up in his match against Ricky Walden to run out a somewhat comfortable 13-9 winner in the end.
This one had given every appearance in the first two sessions that it would be a lot closer than this,but things turned decisively in frame 18 when,leading 9-8 & building a nice early frame lead,Walden went for a kamikaze red to the middle.He missed and trump cleared with a superb 66 to level at 9-9.
From here he never looked back an ran out an easy winner.
Also Mark Williams produced his best snooker of the match in the final session as he recorded a 13-7 victory over Robert Milkins & Ding quickly got the frame he needed to beat Anthony McGill 13-4 .
So into the quarter finals then and first up we have a repeat of the Masters final as Mark Allen once again faces Kyren Wilson
This could be a real cracker from two player who I think are well suited to the multi session format.Allen has produced his best snooker,since that Masters victory,here this week & Wilson hasn't been under any pressure as he breezed through the opening rounds.
This is possibly the hardest match to predict,but I just think that when it comes to it, that Mark Allen may just have that little bit extra to see him over the line.
score prediction 13-11 to Allen
Also in the top half of the draw we have a repeat of the 2011 final here as John Higgins faces Judd Trump.
The way he played in that championship it seemed only a matter of time before Trump claimed the crown,but here we are seven years later and he's yet to get that close again.
Higgins of course reached last years final & looked for a long time like the winner, only to run out of steam on the last day.
This week Higgins has been at his supreme best yet again in demolishing Jack Lisowski 13-1 whereas Trump has seemed , at various times in both his opening matches, to be all at sea.He did however produce his best snooker at the end of his match with Walden and if he can carry that confidence forward he could give Higgins plenty to think about.
Higgins will rightly start as favourite in this one,but he can these days throw in an odd shocker and anyone thinking of backing the odds on should be conscious of this.
That said, I think with Trumps confidence seemingly so fragile at the moment,Higgins is just the player to capitalise and I predict he'll win 13-7
Into the bottom half and an intriguing clash between Ding Junhui & Barry Hawkins
After a number of years of struggle here,Ding has in recent years shown a real liking for this place and here faces someone else, in Hawkins, who comes alive at this venue.
This again is tough to call,but I think Ding has shown enough here in that last two seasons to suggest he really has learned how to manage this tournament.I expect him to show that gain here and run out a comfortable winner 13-6
Finally after accounting for one legend Ali Carter faces another in Mark Williams. Williams has had a great season and although he hasn't quite shown it here this week, he's reached the quarter finals with some ease.
Carter of course reached this stage by finally recording a first career victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan , in a tense affair and it remains to be seen just whats left in the tank for the battle ahead.My feeling is that this might just be a case of "after the lord mayors show" for Carter & I think Williams will win 13-9
It all gets underway at 10am Tuesday
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