Luca Brecel remained on track to win a first title since his Crucible triumph 21 months ago, beating Pang Junxu 4-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the BetVictor Welsh Open in Llandudno.
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It could be a winner-takes-all scenario for Brecel if he makes it to Sunday's final, as the title would also give him the £150,000 BetVictor Bonus awarded to the player who earns the most money across the four BetVictor Home Nations events this season. A further incentive for the Belgian is that a place in the final would get him into next month's World Grand Prix in Hong Kong. But for now, Brecel won't be looking beyond a battle with Jackson Page, the last remaining Welsh player, on Friday afternoon.
Since landing the world title in 2023, Brecel has dipped in and out of form, and was even in danger of tour relegation until his recent improvement. He reached the quarter-finals of the BetVictor Scottish Open and the final of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship before Christmas and is enjoying another run this week.
"When I turn up at tournaments now I really want to go deep," said 29-year-old Brecel, whose top break tonight was 69. "Before, if I wasn't in a really good place I wanted to go home. Now I want to win the tournament or at least get to a quarter or semi-final. It's fantastic to be in the mix again. I will enjoy playing Jackson, he is very attacking and very fast and a nice guy to watch."
Mark Selby reached his 99th ranking event quarter-final with a 4-0 whitewash of Jamie Jones, setting up a blockbuster clash with John Higgins at 12pm on Friday. The pair met in the Unibet British Open final earlier this season, Selby winning 10-5, and the Englishman will be hoping to come out on top again as he chases back to back titles, having won the BetVictor Championship League Invitational last week.
Breaks of 73, 62 and 58 helped Selby to a comfortable victory. "I played well tonight apart from a couple of loose safety shots," said the Leicester cueman, whose first ranking title came in this tournament back in 2008. "Jamie had a chance to win the first frame and if he had taken that he could have settled and made it a different match.
"I finished late last night (beating Elliot Slessor 4-3) so I only had around five hours sleep, I am flagging a bit now so hopefully I'll sleep well tonight. John Higgins is a class act and I always look forward to playing him, as well as Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams because we don't know how long they will keep playing so we have to cherish it."
Ali Carter beat Ryan Day 4-1 to reach his first ranking event quarter-final since winning the BetVictor Championship League back in July. Breaks of 57 and 51 helped Carter set up a tie with Joe O'Connor.
Jack Lisowski was the last man into the quarter-finals and has made seven centuries in his three matches this week. Breaks of 123 and 131 helped him to beat Matthew Selt 4-2 and he now meets Stephen Maguire.