It’s down to the quarter-finals of the Panda Club Wuhan Open with victory in the inaugural staging of the ranking event now within reach.
Eight players will continue to vie for the title over the coming three days at the Wuhan Sports Gymnasium.
The contenders have won four matches to reach this point, but to collect the £140,000 top prize a further three triumphs are required.
Let’s take a look at the four Wuhan Open quarter-finals.
Wu Yize vs Aaron Hill
Friday, 7:30am BST
Wu Yize emerged from his round-four tie in the most dramatic of circumstances, beating Stephen Maguire in a deciding frame on a respotted black.
The 19 year-old has only been a professional for a couple of years, but he is already ranked inside the top 50 in the world.
This quarter-final run matches his previous best performance in a ranking tournament when he reached the same hurdle at last season’s European Masters.
Wu will be keen on going at least one round further, and somewhat strangely he’ll probably be the favourite in his last-eight encounter.
That’s because next up is world no.76 Aaron Hill, whose 5-3 victory over He Guoqiang has taken the young Irishman through to a maiden quarter-final on the main tour.
It’s the first time since 2017 that a player from south of the Irish border has reached this late stage of a ranking tournament.
Tom Ford vs Judd Trump
Friday, 7:30am BST
The tough scheduling that has seen back-to-back tournaments staged on different sides of the world has been a hot topic of late.
But Judd Trump doesn’t seem to mind much, with his success at the English Open on Sunday in Brentwood spurring him on to claim more silverware here.
After arriving late, Trump was forced to play two matches on Wednesday but lost only a couple of frames.
In the last 16, the 34 year-old duly ousted another of this season’s form players in Barry Hawkins.
Trump’s next opponent is Tom Ford, who fought back from behind to deny Xiao Guodong in a decider on day four.
The pair of Englishmen have played 18 times in all competitions, with Trump winning 12 of those prior fixtures to Ford’s six.
Trump is a 7/4 joint-favourite to win the Wuhan Open, a victory that would take his earnings from this season past the £250,000 mark.
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Mark Allen vs Ali Carter
Friday, 12:30pm BST
A couple of scrappy 5-4 victories in the early rounds this week might have transformed Mark Allen’s season.
The Pistol had been struggling so far this campaign, but on Thursday the world number three followed those outings up with a 5-2 defeat of Jack Lisowski.
In the Wuhan Open quarter-finals, Allen will face Ali Carter thanks to the latter’s 5-1 beating of Liam Highfield.
Carter, a winner of the German Masters in February, is still rarely talked about as a potential champion at the start of events.
But his consistency this year is worth noting, and although there’s a long way to go between now and then, his provisional end-of-season ranking is currently as high as number six.
Allen is number one on those provisional standings, a position he’d love to officially hold at some point in the nearer future.
Emerging with the Wuhan Open title and claiming the huge sum of money that’s on offer would, in fact, get the job done this week.
Allen, meanwhile, just about edges his head-to-head record with Carter 11-10, although when Championship League ties are taken away it’s an even 5-5.
Lyu Haotian vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
Friday, 12:30pm BST
Allen may be coming for Ronnie O’Sullivan’s coveted spot in the world rankings list, but the Rocket has looked in fine form so far this week.
Yuan Sijun was the latest to be dispatched, with O’Sullivan compiling breaks of 130, 82, and 64 in a dominant display.
Already a Shanghai Masters champion this term, the 48 year-old has been enjoying his time in China of late.
His legion of Chinese supporters don’t seem to mind the fact he keeps on knocking out one of their own either.
O’Sullivan has already beaten two home players to reach the Wuhan Open quarter-finals, and he’ll face another next when he takes on Lyu Haotian.
Lyu emerged from an all-Chinese clash with English Open runner-up Zhang Anda – compiling a brace of centuries in recording a 5-2 scoreline.
2023 WUHAN OPEN DRAW
Round of 128 (bo9)
(held over fixtures)
Xing Zihao w/o Luca Brecel
Daniel Womersley 3-5 Gong Chenzhi
Si Jiahui 5-2 Wang Xinzhong
Ali Carter 5-2 Bai Yulu
Anthony Hamilton 5-0 Wang Xinbo
Zhou Yuelong 5-2 Baipat Siripaporn
Ding Junhui 5-3 Ashley Hugill
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Ken Doherty
Round of 64 (bo9)
Xing Zihao 5-4 Michael White
Stephen Maguire 5-2 Joe O’Connor
Ryan Day 5-4 Jackson Page
Marco Fu 3-5 Wu Yize
Ben Woollaston 1-5 Aaron Hill
Martin O’Donnell 5-1 John Higgins
Jordan Brown 3-5 Gong Chenzhi
Elliot Slessor 2-5 He Guoqiang
Mark Selby 4-5 Xu Si
Rod Lawler 2-5 Xiao Guodong
Robert Milkins 5-4 Hammad Miah
Tom Ford 5-1 Cao Yupeng
Jamie Jones 5-4 Ian Burns
Sanderson Lam 2-5 Barry Hawkins
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-5 Matthew Selt
Oliver Lines 2-5 Judd Trump
Mark Allen 5-4 Mark Joyce
Si Jiahui 5-4 Jak Jones
Jack Lisowski 5-3 Scott Donaldson
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 2-5 Sam Craigie
Daniel Wells 1-5 Stuart Bingham
Jamie Clarke 1-5 Ali Carter
Anthony Hamilton 0-5 Zhou Yuelong
Liam Highfield 5-3 Neil Robertson
Ben Mertens 5-1 Dominic Dale
Chris Wakelin 2-5 Lyu Haotian
Zhang Anda w/o Mark Williams
Noppon Saengkham w/o Graeme Dott
Alfie Burden 3-5 Ashley Carty
Yuan Sijun 5-0 Ding Junhui
Pang Junxu 5-3 Stuart Carrington
Mark Davis 1-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Round of 32 (bo9)
Xing Zihao 1-5 Stephen Maguire
Ryan Day 2-5 Wu Yize
Aaron Hill 5-1 Martin O’Donnell
Gong Chenzhi 4-5 He Guoqiang
Xu Si 0-5 Xiao Guodong
Robert Milkins 2-5 Tom Ford
Jamie Jones 1-5 Barry Hawkins
Matthew Selt 0-5 Judd Trump
Mark Allen 5-4 Si Jiahui
Jack Lisowski 5-4 Sam Craigie
Stuart Bingham 4-5 Ali Carter
Zhou Yuelong 3-5 Liam Highfield
Ben Mertens 1-5 Lyu Haotian
Zhang Anda 5-1 Noppon Saengkham
Ashley Carty 2-5 Yuan Sijun
Pang Junxu 4-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Round of 16 (bo9)
Stephen Maguire 4-5 Wu Yize
Aaron Hill 5-3 He Guoqiang
Xiao Guodong 4-5 Tom Ford
Barry Hawkins 2-5 Judd Trump
Mark Allen 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Ali Carter 5-1 Liam Highfield
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Zhang Anda
Yuan Sijun 1-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Wu Yize 5-4 Aaron Hill
Tom Ford 0-5 Judd Trump
Mark Allen 2-5 Ali Carter
Lyu Haotian 5-1 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Wu Yize 1-6 Judd Trump
Ali Carter 6-2 Lyu Haotian
Final (bo19)
Judd Trump 10-7 Ali Carter
Featured photo credit: WST
