Eight players remain in the hunt for glory in this season’s second ranking event.
Mark Williams is the only top 16 member left in the draw as the British Open has reached the quarter-finals stage at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
The Welshman comfortably beat Liam Highfield in the last 32 on Friday before a significantly more nerve-wracking 3-2 edging of Zhang Jiankang in the fourth round.
Williams will take on Ricky Walden for a semi-finals berth as he continues his bid for a 24th ranking event title of an esteemed career.
Walden ended the excellent run of amateur Ross Muir hours after he had recorded a similar 3-1 success against John Higgins in the third round.
Williams and Walden have crossed paths on 21 occasions in all competitions, with the three-time world champion boasting a 12-9 superior head-to-head advantage.
The winner of that tie will encounter either China’s Lu Ning or former European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson, who scored breaks of 126 and 74 in overcoming Stephen Maguire at the previous hurdle.
Robertson was within a frame of dropping off the Main Tour last season, but he has been a rejuvenated force during this campaign so far and is into his first ranking event quarter-final in more than a year.
Lu ended the hopes of Lukas Kleckers, the first German competitor to reach the last 16 of a ranking event, and earlier this year beat Robertson in the 2021 World Championship qualifiers.
David Gilbert, meanwhile, is the other standout name left in the draw at the quarter-finals stage of the revamped British Open.
Last week’s Championship League winner has carried forward that form and will feature during the weekend’s play having lost just one frame so far.
Gary Wilson will be the Angry Farmer’s opponent in the last eight, the former World Championship semi-finalist ousting Xu Si and Hossein Vafaei on day five.
Finally, Zhou Yuelong remains in with a shot of earning a maiden ranking event victory following two previous defeats in finals.
The young Chinese cueist squeezed through at Joe O’Connor’s expense to set up a meeting with giant-killer Elliot Slessor.
Slessor consigned Judd Trump to the world number two position by defeating the former world champion in the last 16 before defying a 147 from subsequent opponent Ali Carter to reach the quarter-finals in a ranking event for only the fourth time.
The 27 year-old from Gateshead actually beat Zhou in their only previous encounter at last year’s Welsh Open in Cardiff, which was played in a similar best-of-seven format that will be utilised for both the quarter-finals and semi-finals of this British Open.
The remaining eight contenders for this year’s British Open crown are vying for the opportunity to win the top prize of £100,000 on Sunday.
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British Open Draw
Quarter-Finals QF1: Lu Ning vs Jimmy Robertson QF2: Zhou Yuelong vs Elliot Slessor QF3: Mark Williams vs Ricky Walden QF4: David Gilbert vs Gary Wilson ______________________________ Semi-Finals SF1: QF1 vs QF3 SF2: QF2 vs QF4
Live coverage continues on ITV4 in Ireland and the UK.
Click here to view the full draw (Times: CET)
