2024 English Open Snooker: Last 32 round-up, defending champion Trump advances
Despite being nowhere near his best, world number one Judd Trump continued his title defence as he saw off Matthew Selt, 4-1.
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Recently crowned the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters champion, Trump is enjoying a scintillating start to the 2024/25 professional snooker season, and has now won 17 out of his 18 matches this term.
Trump managed to get the job done again, posting the only half-century break of the match - a 61 - in the final frame.
Fan Zhengyi - who made his maiden maximum 147 break in professional competition earlier in this event - will be Trump's opponent in the last 16.
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A former winner of the European Masters, Fan reeled off four consecutive frames from 2-0 down to deny Oliver Lines, 4-2. Lines had started very brightly with a 125 in the opening frame.
Mark Selby gained some revenge for his early Crucible exit from a few months ago as he whitewashed fellow Leicester cueist Joe O'Connor, 4-0, top scoring with a 137.
New top 16 player Si Jiahui remains on course for his first professional title as he ousted Chinese compatriot Jiang Jun, 4-3. A recent semi-finalist in Riyadh, Si struck a 109 on his way to a 3-1 advantage, although he later required a deciding frame passage after world number 76 Jiang rallied.
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Reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson wasn't perturbed by Anthony McGill's run of 128 in frame two as he eliminated his Scottish opponent, 4-1. Wilson plays Barry Hawkins on Thursday; 'The Hawk' totted up four breaks of 50 or above as he whitewashed Xu Si, 4-0.
Last year's World Champion Luca Brecel was looking to gain some more momentum following his late night win over Anthony Hamilton in round three, but the 29-year-old was sent home by Pang Junxu who constructed a break of 112 to take the tie to a deciding frame where he made a decisive 85 to secure victory.
Pang plays Chris Wakelin next after the former Snooker Shoot Out champion denied last year's runner-up Zhang Anda, 4-1. In a quality fixture, Wakelin made breaks of 126, 86 and 83, while Zhang scored a 136 in the frame he claimed.
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Ross Muir and Ishpreet Singh Chadha have reached round five having both started out in round one last week.
World number 81 Muir from Scotland fashioned a 107 in the opening frame of his 4-1 success over Jamie Jones. This is the fifth time that Muir has been in the last 16 of a ranking event, but on Thursday he'll be aiming to make a quarter-final for the first time.
India's number one Chadha registered an impressive 4-2 win over Hossein Vafaei. Chadha went 2-0 up, but Vafaei - aided by a 119 in frame three - levelled up at 2-2.
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However, 28-year-old Chadha was not to be denied a berth in the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in his career as efforts of 71 and 59 helped him progress.
David Gilbert produced a 124 break but it was the only frame he won against John Higgins who advanced as a 4-1 victor. It will be Higgins versus Allen in the last 16 after the Northern Irishman struck five half-centuries in a 4-2 win against Lyu Haotian.
He Guoqiang backed up his heroics from the night before when he knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan by dismissing Stephen Maguire, 4-1, along with contributions of 90, 94, 51 and 56. He shares the baize with Chadha in the next round.
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Ben Woollaston continues his revival on the World Snooker Tour as the former Welsh Open finalist ended the hopes of local star Zak Surety, 4-1.
World number 40 Wu Yize will be Woollaston's next assignment after he caused a mini upset by eliminating Ali Carter, 4-2. The 20-year-old from China compiled breaks of 123 and 126 in back-to-back frames during the morning session tie.
The final verdict of the day was for Neil Robertson who capped his 4-1 victory over Shaun Murphy with a 71. In the previous frame, Murphy got on the board via a 124. Robertson plays Muir in the last 16.
For full details on the 2024 English Open including the draw, results, prize money, schedule and how to watch, please visit our tournament information centre here.
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