Hawkins I think also made it, alas.
Alas, Hawkins beat Maguire 5-1
Alas also, Vafaei beat Ronnie 5-4 on the black in a dramatic deciding frame. For the first 7 frames Vafaei had his potting boots on, and Ronnie looked like he left his at home, but he was winning the more scrappy frames to only trail 4-3. In the 8th frame Ronnie found his potting boots and got a fantastic 125 break. In the deciding frame Ronnie was winning by 26, with 27 on the table. Ronnie mistimed a safety shot on the yellow and Vafaei cleared the colours to maintain his hopes of playing in the Tour Championship.
Although Ronnie is associated with being successful in China, he hasn't won a ranking tournament in China since the 2017 Shanghai Masters. In 2018 the Shanghai Masters became an invitational. Ronnie's won it all 3 times it's been held since then, but he's not had a success in a Chinese ranking event since he won it in 2017.
Wow! Jackson Page upset Mark Selby! 3 centuries, and coming back from 50-down in the 7th frame with a 74 clearance to the pink to beat Selby 5-2, and he's a surprise quarter finalist.
Ding beat Tubs 5-3
Chris Wakelin's bid for the Tour Championship came to an end when Robertson beat him 5-1.
Full Quarter Final lineup:
Judd Trump v Kyren Wilson
Jackson Page v Elliot Slessor
Neil Robertson v Barry Hawkins
Hossein Vafaei v Ding Jinhui
In his post match interview on Eurosport, Kyren Wilson was calling for flukes to be banned. I'm not sure how he thinks this could be implemented but it relates to an incident in the 5th frame of his match with Judd Trump. The match was delicately poised at 2-2, and they were having a safety duel on the green. Kyren was 19 ahead with 25 left on the table. Judd fluked the green but snookered himself on the brown behind the blue. Judd escaped the snooker and not only fluked the brown, but landed in perfect position on the blue to clear the remaining colours and win the frame on the black. Kyren's missed reds in the next 2 frames could be attributed to him being unable to take the incident off his mind. Judd closed out the match 5-2.
Jackson Page's dream run continues as he disposed of Elliot Slessor 5-2. Robertson beat Hawkins by the same scoreline.
Ding got 2 century breaks as he whitewashed Vafaei 5-0. Vafaei failed to take 12th place in the 1YRL from John Higgins, but Page and Robertson are gunning for it to steal the final place in the Tour Championship from Higgins.
Those two successive flukes from Trump were utterly ridiculous
.
Glad that Robbo and Ding are having a belated good week, and well done for Page to get some props too.
Trump through 6-2 over Page.
Not the best preparation for Jackson Page, to get a cut on his finger going into a semi-final with Judd Trump.
From 4-4, Robertson got 5-4 ahead with a 128 break but Ding levelled the scores with a 68 break in the next frame. In a dramatic deciding frame, Robertson initially succeeded in freezing Ding out as he took a 58-0 lead. With grit and determination, Ding pegged the score back in stages, roared on by the Chinese crowd. A mistimed safety shot on the last red by Robertson let Ding to for a clearance that delighted the crowd. Love the way the referee pronounced Ding's name in Chinese.
Judd v Ding in tomorrow's final. John Higgins, place in the Tour Championship now safe. Robertson can look forward to defending the World Mixed Doubles with Mink Nutcharut next weekend.
Neil Robertson will now have to go through qualifying to make The Crucible for the first time in 18 years.