Kilkenny's David Morris took his biggest scalp yet when beating Ali Carter 5-4 to move into the Wuxi Classic quarter-finals today.
The Irishman only retained his place on the tour by coming through Q School last month but followed up his wins over Gary Wilson and Gerard Greene with a hard-fought match victory over Carter.
Another world finalist awaits him in the next round after Matthew Stevens battled past Peter Lines 5-3.
Neil Robertson and John Higgins cruised into the quarters 5-0 whitewashes today. Four-time world champion Higgins powered past home player Xiao Guodong 5-0 with a top break of 80.
Australian Robertson made breaks of 96, 75 and 111 as he blew away his fellow left-hander Mark King to set up a clash with Cao Yupeng.
Robertson told worldsnooker.com: “Any time you win 5-0 you have to be pleased. “I made a couple of mistakes but overall I cued beautifully. It will be a tough match against Cao, he has come on a lot within the last two or three years.
"In the past I found it tough to find any consistency here (in China), but ever since I made the semi-finals in Shanghai in 2011 my performances here have been good. I can adjust to the change in time a lot better than I used to. I played well to win the China Open in April and hopefully my game is on the right track here."
Cao reached his first ranking quarter-final with a 5-3 win over Ben Woollaston, knocking in breaks of 65, 79, 60, 71 and 73 in a consistent display.
The 22-year-old’s first target now is simply to avoid going the way of King, as he said: “I hope he doesn’t beat me 5-0! For me it’s all about performing well.”
Higgins faces Joe Perry in the last eight after the Cambridgeshire player beat David Gilbert 5-2. Robert Milkins and Anthony Hamilton will meet in the other quarter-final in the top half of the draw.
Milkins had runs of 54, 77 and 95 in a 5-1 win over Scott Donaldson, while Hamilton also made three half-centuries as he beat former world champion Mark Williams 5-3.
