Mark Selby stepped up his bid for a first title in ten months as he beat Ali Carter 4-3 in the second round of the Spreadex World Grand Prix to set up a quarter-final clash with Judd Trump.
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Playing in front of his home fans at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, Selby hopes to draw inspiration from the fact that his last silverware - the WST Classic in March 2023 - came at the same venue. The four-time World Champion scraped over the line in his opening match against Yuan Sijun on Monday, but tonight's performance was more convincing as he finished strongly to beat Masters runner-up Carter.
A break of 62 gave Selby the opening frame, then Carter came from 50-0 down to snatch the second with a 66 clearance. World number five Selby fell 2-1 behind before firing runs of 105 and 62 to lead 3-2. Carter levelled with a 103 and had first scoring chance in the decider, but made just 7 then missed a tricky red to a top corner, playing with the rest. Selby punished him with a break of 77 to reach his 94th ranking event quarter-final.
"It was a good match from start to finish," said 40-year-old Selby. "I was relieved to see him miss the red in the decider and I managed to hold myself together and make a good break. Ali is on form at the moment and full of confidence so it's a good win for me. I always want to do well, playing in my home city. It would mean a lot to win this title, having it in Leicester makes it extra special."
Trump needed just 58 minutes to see off Lyu Hoatian 4-0 with top breaks of 55, 51 and 72. World number two Trump is the only player to win this event three times and hopes he is building towards the form he showed in October when he reeled off three consecutive titles.
"I would like to have scored heavier. I am getting to 50 and not winning the frame, and sometimes you get punished for that," he said. "I am trying to up my tempo, sometimes I feel I have bogged myself down a bit. If I can play at 17 or 18 seconds a shot, like I do in practice, that helps me play better. I feel better in myself this week. I have a good affinity with this tournament, which is always in the back of my mind and that helps with confidence. There are so many big events coming up. Everyone is super sharp and this is one of the better tournaments on the calendar."
Asked if he was surprised to see a trio of big names - Neil Robertson, Luca Brecel and Kyren Wilson - miss out on this event, Trump replied: "The standard is picking up and you can't afford to take your foot off the gas. If you miss events at the start of the season then it's hard to catch up. It's a fair event because everyone has the same chance to qualify. It's good to see a few different names in the field and it keeps everyone sharp because you don't want to miss out."
China's Cao Yupeng knocked out Barry Hawkins in the opening round, and took another scalp by white-washing Shaun Murphy 4-0. Cao, who was runner-up at the Shoot Out last month, scored breaks of 50, 70, 55 and 62 as he reached his seventh ranking event quarter-final.
His next opponent will be Mark Williams, who scored a 4-1 win over Hossein Vafaei with top breaks of 108, 77 and 75. Vafaei walked out of the arena without shaking hands at the end of the match, but Williams insisted this was down to a misunderstanding.
He said: "I pulled Hossein up about it afterwards and he said it was because I slapped my leg at the end. But I only did that because I shouldn't have gone for the pink in the last frame (when he led by 52 points with two reds left), I should have played safe. I thought he would have come back to the table and played for snookers so I was fuming with myself. Then he just stormed off."