David Lilley scored what he described as the best win of his career as he edged out Mark Allen 5-4 in the last 64 of the Weide Cup World Open, a result which boosts his hopes of avoiding relegation at the end of this season.
It's a surprise early exit from the £825,000 event in Yushan for world number seven Allen and he remains without a ranking title since the 2024 Players Championship a year ago, though he did win the invitational Riyadh Season Snooker Championship before Christmas.
Veteran Lilley, age 49, started this event in 63rd place in the projected end of season rankings, and could lose his tour card if he is out of the top 64 at the end of the 2024/25 campaign. But having beaten wild card Cao Jin 5-4 (from 4-2 down) on Sunday and then Allen today, he adds vital points to his tally.
Allen made breaks of 142 and 103 in leading 3-2, before Lilley compiled runs of 66 and 64 to go 4-3 ahead. In frame eight, Tynesider Lilley missed the final green when he had a chance to clear for victory, but he made amends in the decider with an excellent 77.
"Mark is one of the elite. It's a huge feather in my cap, my best win ever," said Lilley, who meets Wu Yize next. "My heart was pumping in the last frame, it's just about slowing down now! I'm fighting for tour survival so that makes a big difference. I'm trying not to look at it too much, I don't know exactly what I need to do. I am around the 60 mark and every win counts. It always comes down to the World Championship qualifiers. All I can do this week is try to win my next match."
Shaun Murphy made his tenth official 147, and the 12th maximum so far this season, during a 5-0 win over Zhou Jinhao. Johnstone's Paint Masters champion Murphy also fired runs of 127 and 119, taking his career total of centuries past the 700 milestone.
Judd Trump has won the last two stagings of this event and made it 16 consecutive match victories with a 5-1 defeat of Long Zehuang. He rifled breaks of 108, 121 and 101 to take his tally of centuries for the season to 79, closing in on a possible £100,000 bonus for the first player to make 100 tons during the 2024/25 campaign.
"I have scored heavily in my first two matches here and could have had more centuries," said the world number one. "Looking back I probably should have entered a few more tournaments because I didn't think I would get close to the bonus. But I have had some time off and maybe that's why I'm more relaxed. It would be nice to ruin the (WST) Christmas party by taking that £100,000! The conditions are always good here in Yushan, the humidity is low. I like these kind of conditions, I find it easier to score and it helps my game."
Fight-back of the day came from Duane Jones who recovered 4-0 deficit to beat Xiao Guodong 5-4. Only Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson have earned more ranking points than Xiao this season, but the Chinese cueman couldn't get over the winning line today. Welshman Jones fired breaks of 68, 90, 68 to make it 4-4 then took the decider from 54-1 down with a 56 clearance.
"Xiao barely missed a ball in the first four frames," said world number 90 Jones. "At the interval, I thought to myself that it's a long to come to give up so I have to keep trying. At first I was trying to make the score respectable, but then from 4-2 I wasn't far behind. Xiao has won a lot of matches this year and looked very strong, but as I came back I could see him shaking his head a bit. From 4-0 down, 99 times out of 100 you lose, but you just ever know. I played well and rode my luck."
World Champion Wilson enjoyed a 5-1 win over Lei Peifan with top breaks of 138, 111 and 90. "It looks like a comfortable win but there were a couple of very close frames early on," he said. "It was a big frame to go 2-1 up after a long safety battle. From 3-1 I felt I had the match by the scruff of the neck and after that I finished off with two good breaks."
Stan Moody followed up yesterday's victory over Zhang Anda by beating Graeme Dott 5-2 with a top break of 123, while Barry Hawkins enjoyed a 5-2 success against Jamie Jones. Home favourite Ding Junhui scored breaks of 123 and 138 in a 5-2 win over Joe Perry.