World number 52 Jackson Page put on a stunning display to reach his maiden ranking event quarter-final, beating Mark Selby 5-2 at the Huading Nylon World Open in Yushan.
Page’s exploits this week have already seen him defeat Selby’s fellow four-time World Champion John Higgins. He now looks to have all but secured his tour survival, which was in question before heading out to Yushan.
The Welsh 22-year old has been mentored through his fledgling career by the legendary Mark Williams, who has described Page as being like a son to him. This week could be the start of his considerable talent coming to fruition. Page now faces Elliot Slessor for a place in the semi-finals. Slessor scored a 5-2 win over Daniel Wells.
This evening’s match was played to a phenomenal standard, with big breaks in every frame. The opener was taken by Page with a run of 130. Selby responded with 129 in the second, before breaks of 120 and 100 made it four centuries on the bounce and 3-1 to Page.
A contribution of 93 soon made it 4-1, but Selby replied with 96 to stay in touch at 4-2. The Leicester cueman had the first opportunity in the next. However, his run ended on 50. Page stepped in with 74 to complete a breath-taking victory.
Ding Junhui came from behind to beat Shaun Murphy 5-3 in another high-quality encounter.
Breaks of 127 and 86 had helped Murphy into a 2-1 advantage. However, Ding hammered home runs of 130, 83, 74 and 66 en route to claiming four of the next five frames and sealing victory. He now faces Hossein Vafaei, who defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan earlier.
Australia’s 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson was the other winner on an evening of huge breaks. He top scored with 140 whilst beating Chris Wakelin 5-1 and plays Barry Hawkins in the last eight.