China Championship snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy into last eight

Snooker

Sun August 20, 2017 · 7y ago

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy have progressed in the China Championship after powering into the quarter-finals.

Saturday's round-up & results

Five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised into the quarter-finals of the Evergrande China Championship with a 5-0 thrashing of Scotland's Graeme Dott.

O'Sullivan needed several chances to win a scrappy opening frame, but followed up with breaks of 78, 75, 62 and 139 as Dott managed to score just 21 points in the one-sided contest.

There were groans from the crowd as O'Sullivan turned down the chance to attempt a maximum break early in the fifth frame, but the 41-year-old was soon forgiven as he rattled in a total clearance in a frame lasting less than eight minutes.

O'Sullivan will face Luca Brecel in the last eight after the Belgian beat Mike Dunn 5-3 in the morning session and the Rocket is hot favourite at 2/9 with Sky Bet to progress. Brecel is 3/1.

Shaun Murphy is 4/11 to see off Zhou Yuelong in the quarter-finals after whitewashing Stephen Maguire.

Murphy, a 25/1 pre-tournament pick of our Simon Crawford, saw off the dangerous Maguire by the same 5-0 margin.

Sky Bet's China Championship odds

O'Sullivan - 11/8
Murphy - 3/1
Williams - 4/1
Carter - 7/1
Brecel - 16/1
Yuelong 16/1
Hang - 25/1
O'Brien 33/1

Click here for all Sky Bet's snooker markets

Maguire led 55-1 in first frame but Murphy stole it with a 62 clearance and added breaks of 52, 71 and 104, while Zhou saw off Martin Gould 5-2.

World number eight Murphy is the top ranked player remaining in the event after the top six all lost on Friday and world number seven Neil Robertson was beaten in the first round.

Former world champion Mark Williams beat Tom Ford 5-3 to set up a quarter-final with home favourite Li Hang, who made his third half-century of the match in the decider to edge past Matthew Stevens 5-4.

Ali Carter beat Mark Davis 5-1 and eventually discovered he will face Fergal O'Brien in the last eight after the Irishman won a lengthy battle with Alan McManus 5-4.

Saturday's snooker results

Zhou Yuelong 5-2 Martin Gould (Match 56)
Stephen Maguire 0-5 Shaun Murphy (Match 57)
Mike Dunn 3-5 Luca Brecel (Match 61)
Mark Williams 5-3 Tom Ford (Match 63)

Evening Session

Mark Davis 1-5 Ali Carter (Match 58)
Fergal O'Brien 5-4 Alan McManus (Match 59)
Graeme Dott 0-5 Ronnie O'Sullivan (Match 60)
Li Hang 5-4 Matthew Stevens (Match 62)