Jak Jones sealed a second successive quarter-final appearance at a World Snooker Championship with a 13-9 defeat of Si Jiahui on Saturday in Sheffield.
The Welshman, who conjured a memorable run on his debut 12 months ago that included a standout victory over Neil Robertson, outlasted Si in a gruelling last-16 affair.
Neither player produced anywhere near the standards they are capable of, with Jones’ pot success rate languishing down at 84 percent.
Yet the 30 year-old did what he had to do to make it through, including holding his nerve to pinch several close frames on the final black.
“I don’t know how I won,” Jak Jones, who will face world number two Judd Trump in the quarter-finals, said in his post-match press conference.
“I mean Rob [Walker] said to me in the last one that I’d have to play better if I was playing Mark Williams or Si Jiahui, and I didn’t. But I’m still through.”
“I don’t think either of us was clinical really, it was just someone had to win. But I was probably lucky to be 6-2 up after the first session.
“I won four black-ball games. It probably gave me a false reflection of the game going into the evening session.
“In the evening, especially when the wall went up, I didn’t feel good at all. I suppose I was relieved to be 9-7 up after the evening. Today, I managed to just play solid enough.
“You always want to play well. If you’re not playing well, you’ve always got to keep looking for it I suppose.
“But if I’m winning when I’m not playing so well, there’s a positive in that as well.
“Judd and Ronnie are the two best players in the world, so it doesn’t get any more tough than that (playing Trump).
“Everyone is expecting a Ronnie-Judd semi-final, so I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ll just try my best and see how it goes.”
Jones, whose best ranking performance was reaching the 2022 Gibraltar Open semi-finals, has odds of around 66/1 to capture this year’s World Snooker Championship title.
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Trump, meanwhile, remains the 5/2 second favourite in the outright market behind Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Bidding to add to his Crucible glory from five years ago, the Englishman beat Tom Ford 13-7 to reach the last eight in Sheffield for the tenth time in his career.
On Sunday, the only match to conclude will be the one involving rivals Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire.
The latter leads 10-6 heading into their third and final session.
2024 World Snooker Championship Draw
Round 1 (bo19)
Luca Brecel (1) 9-10 David Gilbert
Robert Milkins (16) 10-9 Pang Junxu
Ali Carter (9) 7-10 Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy (8) 10-5 Lyu Haotian
Mark Selby (5) 6-10 Joe O’Connor
Kyren Wilson (12) 10-1 Dominic Dale
John Higgins (13) 10-6 Jamie Jones
Mark Allen (4) 10-6 Robbie Williams
Judd Trump (3) 10-5 Hossein Vafaei
Tom Ford (14) 10-6 Ricky Walden
Zhang Anda (11) 4-10 Jak Jones
Mark Williams (6) 9-10 Si Jiahui
Ding Junhui (7) 9-10 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson (10) 5-10 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins (15) 8-10 Ryan Day
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) 10-1 Jackson Page
Round 2 (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-4 Robert Milkins (16)
Stephen Maguire 13-9 Shaun Murphy (8)
Joe O’Connor 6-13 Kyren Wilson (12)
John Higgins (13) 13-12 Mark Allen (4)
Judd Trump (3) 13-7 Tom Ford (14)
Jak Jones 13-9 Si Jiahui
Jack Lisowski 11-13 Stuart Bingham
Ryan Day 7-13 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Quarter-Finals (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-8 Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson (12) 13-8 John Higgins (13)
Judd Trump (3) 9-13 Jak Jones
Stuart Bingham 13-10 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Semi-Finals (bo33)
David Gilbert 11-17 Kyren Wilson (12)
Jak Jones 17-12 Stuart Bingham
Final (bo35)
Kyren Wilson (12) 18-14 Jak Jones
Click here for the latest live scores and session times.
Featured photo credit: WST
