The International Championship in Tianjin, China, is back after a 4 year break.
Judd Trump is the current champion having defeated Shaun "Tubs" Murphy 10-3 in the 2019 final.
Typically the Chinese ranking tournaments pay around twice as much as the Home International tournaments with a wapping £170,000 going to the winner. The prize money could help someone like Ronnie, Luca, Judd or Mark Allen assert themselves as World no.1.
Mark Allen got through to the last 32 yesterday with a 6-3 victory over Oliver Lines.
Today he was joined by Ronnie O'Sullivan, who defeated Mark Joyce 6-3, and Judd Trump, who defeated Michael White 6-0.
Luca Brecel won't be World no1 just yet, having fallen to a 6-3 defeat at the hands of Mark Davis.
Murphy won't be contesting the final this time around. He was upset 6-3 by Dominic Dale, the Spaceman.
Mark Allen won't be World no.1 this time around. He was upset 6-3 by the Thailand Player Thepchaiya Uh-Nooh.
Judd Trump's winning streak has come to an end. He was beaten 6-3 by Stephen Maguire. Another Scottish success was John Higgin's 6-1 victory over Dylan Emery.
Ronnie O'Sullivan looks set to remain World no.1 after getting a hard fought 6-4 victory over Jak Jones.
I remember a match at the Crucible a few years ago when Oliver McGill looked invincible and knocked Ronnie out of the World Championship. Any win for Ronnie over McGill must be considered a good win, and Ronnie was on fine long potting form today to defeat McGill 6-2.
Maguire carried on his good form by defeating Ryan Day 6-4, but John Higgins lost 6-3 to Jordan Brown. Another QF appearance by Tom Ford after he beat Selby 6-3. Ding Jinhui beat fellow Chinese player Pang Junxu 6-2 to get another fellow Chinaman, Zhang Anda, in the QFs.
Full Quarter Final line-up:
Stephen Maguire v Jordan Brown
Tom Ford v Barry Hawkins
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ali Carter
Zhang Anda v Ding Jinhui
The all Chinese match could be a belter. Ding v Zhang.
Incredible fightback from Barry Hawkins. He was 5-1 down to Thepchaiya un Nooh but recovered to win 6-5.
Ronnie came through a match with lots of drama to defeat Ali Carter 6-4 with neither player playing particularly well.
In another extraordinary match, Maguire came back from 5-2 down to level at 5-5 with a break of 115, only for Jordan Brown to seal the final frame win with a break of 57.
Tom Ford beat Hawkins 6-4. Zhang Anda defeated Ding Jinhui 6-3 leaving Ding in jeopardy of losing his place in next week's Champion of Champions event unless Ronnie wins the tournament.
The semi-finals will be best of 17. One tomorrow and one on Saturday.
Jordan Brown v Tom Ford (tomorrow)
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Zhang Anda (Saturday)
Both semis look like very intriguing encounters and both could go close.
No Hawkins or Maguire or Carter! Oh happy day!
Well, it was a closely faught contest until Jordan Brown led 6-5, then Tom Ford took the next 4 frames to win 9-6.
Apparently Ford won 2 minor ranking titles, called PTCs, or Players Tour Championships, in 2010 and 2011 beating Jack Lisowski 4-0 in one final, and Martin Gould 4-3 in the other. But he's won nothing major and now's his chance.
Ah, I see that both semis will be longer than the finals of some events. Well done to Ford, who I've been selfishly tipping for greatness for a few events now, all to no avail. And if Ronnie wins tomorrow, then it probably will be again.
A very lethargic performance from Ronnie as he struggled to find his best form. The way Ronnie was playing today, Zhang Anda was too strong for him. 9-6 to Zhang Anda.
Zhang Anda and Tom Ford have never played each other in a professional tournament, and whoever wins tomorrow will get to play in next week's Champion of Champions.