David Gilbert continued his fine start to the 2026/27 snooker season with a 6-2 victory over Wu Yize in the China Open on Wednesday.
The Englishman produced a strong display to comfortably see off the world champion, having also thrashed home favourite Ding Junhui 6-1 earlier in the tournament.
Gilbert, who reached the final of Championship League Snooker at the beginning of the campaign, has compiled four century breaks and looks like a genuine challenger for the title in Taiyuan.
He never looked troubled against Wu, compiling breaks of 132, 122, 80, 56, and 54 in motoring through to the quarter-finals.
“I feel good,” Gilbert told the World Snooker Tour. “I’d like to say it’s just another game, but it isn’t.”
“I beat a legend of China in Ding and the world champion who is going to be a complete legend of the game.
“That’s nice to have on my CV, so I hope I can build on this. I’m just trying to enjoy playing again, it’s been a while.
“If I try to enjoy the game and think clearly, I can play alright.
“I’ve had some big runs in China – I’ve been to a couple of finals. But I feel like I’m playing proper snooker now.
“My safety needs a bit of work, but I think that’s more the conditions of the table. They are a little bit heavy at times, so you’ve got to adapt.
“Apart from that, the tournament is fantastic, the prize money is incredible, and how we’ve been treated at the hotel is amazing.”
Although Gilbert reached the Championship League Snooker final last month where he narrowly lost to Jak Jones, the season-opening event was played entirely behind closed doors.
Amazingly, it has been more than two years since the 45 year-old has reached the semi-final of a more traditional ranking event in front of fans.
“I’d love to make the weekend,” said Gilbert, whose last semi-final appearance at a big tournament was at the 2024 World Championship.
“It would be great to play at another one-table again, as it’s been a long time. I won’t get ahead of myself, I’ll just look forward to the next game.”
Next up for the Angry Farmer will be Zhou Yuelong, who has similarly been in terrific scoring form and compiled four century breaks in a 6-4 defeat of Liu Hongyu.
Elsewhere, Noppon Saengkham caused another huge upset by dispatching of crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Thai added a 6-4 defeat of the Rocket to his growing list of conquests in China, having already beaten world number one Judd Trump in the first round.
In the quarter-finals, Saengkham will face Shaun Murphy after the Magician ousted Xiao Guodong with a 6-2 scoreline.
The remaining matches from the round of 16 will be played on Thursday, meanwhile.
Neil Robertson is in action against Si Jiahui, and the Australian will surely now be aware that his chances of regaining the world number one position have greatly improved.
With Trump, Wu, and Zhao Xintong each out of the event already, Robertson can guarantee his return to the top spot later this month if he wins this week’s lucrative event.
The other last-16 games see three-time China Open champion Mark Selby face Kyren Wilson, Stuart Bingham encounter Hossein Vafaei, and Chris Wakelin play Zhang Anda.
Featured photo credit: WST
