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Updated Tournament Draw
Day 4
The first televised last 16 match of the day was between the world no.1 Mark Williams and the qualifier David Gilbert. Mark came through a low-quality scrappy affair with Barry Pinches in the first round and was looking to impress against the in-form Gilbert.
It was a much better match for Mark though and he did play a lot better to see off David 5-2. He will face countryman Dominic Dale who came through 5-4 against home favourite Neil Robertson in the most exciting match of the tournament so far.
Dominic had already fought off Australian Steve Mifsud in the last 32 and was hoping to do the same here against the former world champion. Dominic got off to a great start, winning the first frame and reaching the interval 3-1 up even with Neil making a 101 break.
Neil won the next frame with another century, a 111, but Dominic took the next scrappier frame to lead 4-2. Neil was scoring well when he got in the balls but the Welshman took the important, more hard fought frames. Neil won the next two to set up the decider and the momentum look to be with the Australian.
Both players had several chances and the frame went down to the last few balls. Dominic missed the brown and Neil potted it along with the blue to leave Dominic needing one snooker. It only took the spaceman one attempt to get it though which Neil duly missed and Dominic nailed home the pink and black with two amazing pots to win the frame by one point and the match 5-4!
There was a ten year gap between Dominic winning the 1997 Grand Prix and the 2007 Shanghai Masters, could the popular Welshman win a ranker a lot sooner? Mark should prove a stern test and if he makes it through who knows. Dominic said after the match;
"It's up there as one of the best matches I've ever played in for drama and excitement," said Dale, who now meets countryman Mark Williams in the quarter-finals. "You just live for matches like that and I loved the excitement."
"This is a big win for me and to hold myself together was quite tough."
"I will go to bed thinking I'm lucky to still be in it. I played some very good safety but also some shockers and maybe I was a bit too cautious."
The other match in the morning was the one between Mark Allen and Marcus Campbell. Both had quite a decent season last year but it was Northern Ireland's Mark Allen who came through against the Scot 5-1 which included two centuries breaks of 100 and 101. Mark will meet Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals who came through 5-0 against Tom Ford in the afternoon.
In the last year or so there has been a lot of tension between the pair after comments from Mark in their post-match press conference after he beat Stuart in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship last year.
"I can't wait to play this match," admitted Bingham. "He said a few words after the UK Championship which were a bit out of order and I've been waiting for this match for a while."
"He said I've got no bottle and he thought he was never going to lose to me. I will definitely be up for it."
"I don't know what happened. With the game at the UK I was gutted I lost as I would've got into the semi-finals. I remember I shook his hand and didn't say anything. He took that to heart."
"But I don't care what he thinks. We're here to do a job and hopefully I will win. It will give me more pleasure to beat him."
The other match in the afternoon was a battle of the Mark's as Selby took on Davis. Mark Davis had many chances given to him throughout the match from Mark Selby but failed to capitalize on them as Selby was the eventual winner of the match 5-3. He will continue on as one of the favourites to win the title at this event and guarentee that he will be in the premier league for next season as he missed out last year due to not winning any major ranking events.
Mark Selby will play Ken Doherty in the quarter-finals who had an epic match of his own in the evening along side the Dale/Robertson match against China's world cup champion Liang Wenbo. There was a bit of controversy between the two in Thailand when Ken wanted Liang to have a frame docked as he wasn't wearing his bow tie, but that was put on the backburner as Liang raced to a 4-1 lead in the match.
The plucky Irishman wasn't going to be beaten that easily though as he came back to win the match 5-4 just after midnight. It is Ken's first ranking event quarter-final since the 2009 Shanghai Masters and will be looking to put in a good show against Selby tomorrow.
Quotes courtesy; World Snooker
Quarter-final lineup;
Friday, July 22
1pm
QF1 - Matthew Selt v Shaun Murphy
QF2 - Mark Allen v Stuart Bingham
7.30pm
QF4 - Dominic Dale v Mark Williams
QF3 - Mark Selby v Ken Doherty
DAY 4 RESULTS
Last 16;
David Gilbert 2-5 Mark Williams
Marcus Campbell 1-5 Mark Allen
Mark Selby 5-3 Mark Davis
Tom Ford 0-5 Stuart Bingham
Neil Robertson 4-5 Dominic Dale
Liang Wenbo 4-5 Ken Doherty
Centuries;
Neil Robertson 111, 101
Mark Allen 101, 102
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