Thepchaiya Un-Nooh produced arguably the best performance of the week so far at the Unibet British Open as he made a century and five more breaks over 50 during a 4-3 win over Ricky Walden to reach the last 16.
Un-Nooh will meet Mark Selby in a intriguing match-up in Cheltenham on Thursday night, and victory would give the Thai a first ranking event quarter-final since 2022.
In the opening frame, Un-Nooh was on course for a 147 until he missed the 13th red on 96. In the next two, he made breaks of 52 and 57, only for his opponent to snatch them both on the colours. Walden then made a 61 to lead 3-1, before Un-Nooh hit back with 93, 88 and 115 in the last three frames.
"I'm very happy, especially with the break I made in the last frame," said the Thai. "I wasn't thinking about the match, I just focussed on the balls, one at a time."
Judd Trump made it 21 wins from 23 matches so far this season with a 4-2 defeat of Mark Davis. World number one Trump remains stuck on 999 career centuries as his top break today was 73, but he'll have another chance tonight against Stephen Maguire.
Oliver Lines edged out Sunny Akani 4-3 to set up a Yorkshire derby against Stan Moody. Lines, who has now won three consecutive matches 4-3, is hoping to reach his third ranking quarter-final.
"I thought I had blown my chance today because I was 3-1 up but then missed chances and he got back to 3-3," said Lines. "I had some luck in the last frame, it's nice when it goes your way. I played a couple of bad shots at 3-1 and then lost all confidence. I know Stan really well, we were based at the same club for a long time. I don't really like playing friends but we'll both be trying as hard as we can."
John Higgins battled to a 4-2 win in an all-Scottish clash with Graeme Dott which lasted three hours and 20 minutes. Higgins now meets giant-killer Rory Thor, who has already knocked out Mark Williams and Neil Robertson.
Luca Brecel made another step towards a return to form as he saw off Liam Davies 4-1, while World Champion Kyren Wilson fired breaks of 80 and 95 in a 4-0 win over Marco Fu.