Jackson Page boosted his hopes of becoming the first home winner of the BetVictor Welsh Open this century as he beat Tom Ford 4-0 to reach the quarter-finals in Llandudno.
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Mark Williams was the last Welsh player to win this title - or even reach the final - back in 1999. There's a strong Welsh showing this time, with a record four players in the last 16, and Page looks a strong contender for the Ray Reardon Trophy. The 23-year-old from Ebbw Vale took just 50 minutes to beat Ford with a top break of 62, earning a tie with Pang Junxu or Luca Brecel.
Page reached his first ranking final at the Championship League at the start of this season, finishing runner-up to Ali Carter, and this would be the perfect week for a first title. "Welsh snooker is thriving, there are a lot of us on tour doing well," he said. "This is a great venue, the fans have been brilliant and I am grateful for their support. I'm having a good season and I just want to have as many deep runs as I can."
John Higgins reached his 145th ranking event quarter-final, just one off Ronnie O'Sullivan's record of 146, with a 4-0 thrashing of Yuan Sijun. Higgins' progress has been serene so far this week, winning three matches by a 4-0 scoreline, making three centuries and six more breaks over 50. Runs of 90 and 131 helped the 49-year-old Scot to a superb win over Yuan, keeping him on track for a record-extending sixth Welsh Open title.
"I'm delighted, I've played well in all three matches so far," said Higgins, looking for his first ranking title since the 2021 Players Championship. "Usually you have at least one match which goes to the wire, so it's been important to keep some energy for later in the tournament. My positional play has been good which means I'm not having to play too many recovery shots."
Stephen Maguire reached his first quarter-final of the season with a 4-2 success against Sanderson Lam. Maguire came into this week needing to at least make the semi-finals to climb into the top 32 of the Johnstone's Paint One-Year Rankings and qualify for next month's World Grand Prix, and he is now just one win away from that target.
"I'll need to find something before my next match," said 2013 Welsh Open champion Maguire, whose top break today was 87. "I was struggling to control the white and I probably deserved to lose. I'll phone John Higgins and see if he wants to go for dinner and give me a pep talk. I am in the quarter-finals so I'll take it."
Joe O'Connor also booked a place in the last eight as he showed his break-building class in a 4-1 win over Matthew Stevens, firing runs of 99, 87, 113 and 82.