Judd Trump saw his remarkable record of reaching at least the quarter-finals of every event he has contested in 2024 come to an end as he lost 6-4 to Xu Si in the last 16 of the International Championship in Nanjing.
In a sequence going back to January, Trump had progressed to at least the quarter-finals of 15 consecutive tournaments, winning four of those, reaching two other finals and earning over £1.5 million. But that run came to an end in Nanjing as the world number one was beaten by China's Xu, ranked 48 places lower.
It's arguably the best result of Xu's career so far and keeps a special week going for the 26-year-old as he made a 147 during his previous match against Ryan Day on Tuesday. He is through to the third ranking event quarter-final of his career - and second of the season having reached the same stage of the Xi'an Grand Prix in August.
Two breaks of 76 helped give Xu a 2-0 lead, before Trump battled back to lead 3-2. The next two were shared, but 29-time ranking event winner Trump failed to score a point in the last three frames as his opponent finished superbly with runs of 104, 69, 58 and 68.
"It was my mindset during the key moments that helped," said Xu, who will now meet Gary Wilson. "In the last frame, I felt a bit of tension, but luckily things went well, and I didn’t leave any easy shots. Finishing the match felt really good. Sometimes you reach a point where you’re very nervous, and then suddenly you’re not nervous anymore.
"I feel there’s a much smaller gap now between myself and the top players. Recently, many Chinese players have been advancing to the latter stages of tournaments, which shows a significant improvement overall."
Kyren Wilson now has the chance to slash Trump's lead at the top of the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings, and the World Champion kept his fine form going with a 6-2 win over Barry Hawkins. Breaks of 80, 127, 85, 101, 117 and 60 helped Wilson win a one-sided match and continue his pursuit of a third title this season, having already landed the Xi'an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open.
Jackson Page scored an excellent 6-4 win over Pang Junxu and the 23-year-old Welshman is just one round short of his best run in a ranking event, having reached the semi-finals of last season's World Open. Page top scored with 117, 68 and 72 as Pang failed to follow up on Tuesday's win over Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong saw off Jack Lisowski 6-3, a result which could see him join the elite top 16 for the first time in his career and become a seeded player for the UK Championship later this month. China's Xiao is now ahead of Neil Robertson in the Race to York, which means that Robertson will be heading for the qualifying rounds in Leicester. Breaks of 81, 89, 122 and 91 helped Xiao to beat Lisowski.
Chris Wakelin also has a chance of a top 16 berth if he can reach the final, and he got the better of a high quality contest against Mark Williams, compiling breaks of 72, 112, 98 and 88 in a 6-4 success. Ding Junhui reached his first ranking quarter-final of the season as he beat Jiang Jun with a top break of 109. John Higgins edged out Lyu Haotian 6-5, winning frame ten on a respotted black and the decider with a run of 68. Gary Wilson enjoyed a 6-3 win over Mark Selby, making rbeaks of 73, 54, 123, 80 and 52.
Thursday's quarter-finals:
Chris Wakelin v John Higgins
Jackson Page v Xiao Guodong
Xu Si v Gary Wilson
Kyren Wilson v Ding Junhui