China Open 2011 - Last 16 & Quarter-Final Results

After five days of tough competition and many seeds dropping out early, we are finally down to the final four in Beijing at the China Open. World no.1 John Higgins, Neil Robertson and Ali Carter were amongst the top casulties in the last two rounds.

Last 16 Results:

In a repeat of the 2005 China Open final where Ding Junhui as a wildcard beat Stephen Hendry to start the recent boom of Snooker in China it was once again the local boy who got the upper hand. Stephen as usual of late got off to a good start winnin the first two frames (including an 80 break in the second) but Ding stepped it up after that winning the next five frames in a row with top runs of 120 and 81 to win 5-2. Ding has recent PTC Grand Finals champion Shaun Murphy in his next match who narrowly came through against wildcard Li Hang 5-4 after trailing 3-1.

The biggest shock of the round had to be Neil Robertson's third successive defeat to Peter Ebdon in Chinese ranking events. Neil can be excused for losing to Peter in last years China Open after making his first professional 147 break but then went on to lose to Peter once again in the Shanghai Masters and once again lost 5-1. As often can be with Peter's matches it was a hard fought affair and the only top break was a 80 from Peter but it was enough for him to get across the line. I'm not sure what it is that prevents Neil from beating Peter in China but as Neil is usually a fast, aggresive player maybe Peter's tactical play drags him down? Peter faces Judd Trump in the next round who got the better of Mark Davis 5-2 in their match.

Judd Trump 5-2 Mark Davis

Ryan Day 2-5 Stephen Lee

Neil Robertson 1-5 Peter Ebdon

Shaun Murphy 5-4 Li Hang

Ali Carter 5-3 Marcus Campbell

Robert Milkins 1-5 Mark Selby

John Higgins 5-2 Ricky Walden

Ding Junhui 5-2 Stephen Hendry

Quarter-Finals Results:

In a repeat of the 2009 World Championship final it was Shaun Murphy who got the upper hand this time as he beat Welsh and UK champion John Higgins by an impressive 5-2 scoreline. It started off in quite a low quality affair with the boys sharing the first four frames but after the interval John started to falter as Murphy dominated the last three with runs of 108, 54 and 81 to win the match 5-3. John was playing well but no where near as good as his performance in the Welsh Open and will need to improve before the Crucible action starts in 14 days as Stephen Lee is looking awesome at the moment. Shaun faces Judd Trump in the semi-finals. Judd in easily seeing off Peter Ebdon with some great potting 5-1 has reached his first televised semi-final since the 2007 Grand Prix. Can we he reach his first ranking final?

The other big match was the tie between Chinese favourite Ding Junhui and the beater of Mark Williams who made four century breaks and still lost; Stephen Lee. Stephen is having a fantastic season but now he only has the Crucible to look forward to as he lost to Ding 5-2. The local fans will be hoping for Ding to reach a second successive China Open final and they weren't dissapointed as there was a few scrappy frames but Ding came out on top in them, winning 3 frames before the interval and then only losing one before he took the last two. Apart from a 134 from Ding there wasn't many big breaks but he was looking confident out there but will have to work hard to beat Mark Selby in the semi-finals who came through against Ali Carter 5-1. Mark was in top form as breaks of 129, 130 and a 139 in the last frame put him through to yet another semi-final. Not having won a ranking event title since the 2008 Welsh Open he will be desperate to win this one before the World Championships.

Peter Ebdon 1-5 Judd Trump

John Higgins 2-5 Shaun Murphy

Mark Selby 5-1 Ali Carter

Ding Junhui 5-2 Stephen Lee