Mark Selby is into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after outclassing Zhang Anda 5-1 in Bendigo.
The UK and Masters champion produced an excellent display to easily overcome his Chinese opponent.
The 30 year-old raced into a 4-0 lead at the interval thanks to breaks 69, 71, 76 and 90.
A pair of unexpected misses let Zhang in to avoid the whitewash with a nice run of 87 but Selby coasted to victory in following frame.
The ‘Jester’ had started this event poorly and found himself 3-0 down to Ian Burns in the opening round.
But if Selby is known for one thing it is his dogged brinkmanship and never-say-die mentality.
He reversed that deficit and now looks in excellent form as he enters the business end of the tournament.
Selby plays Mark Davis in the next round after his fellow Englishman saw off the challenge of Alfie Burden 5-3.
The Australian Open has been an event so far where seasoned campaigners have emerged to claim their maiden ranking title.
That was the case two years ago with Stuart Bingham and against last season when Barry Hawkins became champion.
Davis falls into a similar category to both of these players and will be thinking that this could be his turn to gain some success.
The only problem is that he finds himself in without doubt the toughest half of the draw.
Even if he is to beat Selby, his likely last four opponent will be home favourite Neil Robertson – neither of which are easy tasks.
Robbo faces a difficult prospect before he even thinks about that stage, though, with friend and former practice partner Joe Perry, who edged Bingham, his next clash.
Perry has been one of the form men so far this season having won the Asian PTC event in Yixing and then subsequently reached the quarter-finals of the Wuxi Classic.
Right through his career the former World Championship semi-finalist has been a confidence player – stringing together multiple victories in quick succession before dropping off the radar unexpectedly.
This is definitely one of his hot streaks and he will be a good match for the Aussie in his back yard.
Elsewhere, defending champion Hawkins is also out after being pipped in yet another decider – the seventh of the week – by Tom Ford.
Ford takes on another Englishman in Robert Milkins while Marco Fu takes on Dominic Dale in the final quarter-final match-up – Dale having beaten Fergal O’Brien yesterday.
That half of the draw is wide open but Hong Kong’s Fu should be favourite after a brilliant performance against Shaun Murphy earlier today.
The German Masters runner-up came from 2-0 down to play almost faultless snooker in picking up the next five frames – confidently compiling a 115 century to wrap up the triumph.
Both Fu and Dale have tasted ranking event success in the past so their match up will be keenly contested.
The full draw and list of results can be viewed by clicking here.
