Ishpreet Singh Chadha became India’s first ranking event quarter-finalist in 11 years after a 4-3 win He Guoqiang at the BetVictor English Open in Essex.
Today’s win sees Singh Chadha become the first Indian since Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta to make a ranking quarter-final. The duo faced each other in the 2013 Indian Open quarter-finals, when Mehta prevailed 4-3.
Defeat for He ends a tremendous week, which has seen him defeat the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Stephen Maguire.
Breaks of 59, 73, and 52 helped Singh Chadha to a momentous win this afternoon and earned him a quarter-final showdown with four-time World Champion Mark Selby, who defeated Si Jiahui 4-3.
“I wouldn’t say I have surprised myself this week, but I’m close to playing the way I should have done in the first season. It takes time to adjust to the tour. I handled the pressure so well and I’m delighted with myself,” said 28-year-old Singh Chadha.
“I am going to play my game in the quarter-finals. I won’t be frightened or intimidated by anything. We Indians aren’t afraid of anyone. I’m just going to play my game, hope for the best and see what happens. He is one of my favourite players, but that is just off the table, on the table it is a different game.”
World number one Judd Trump prevailed 4-2 against former European Masters winner Fan Zhengyi to set up a last eight meeting with Wu Yize, who beat Ben Woollaston 4-2.
Trump last faced Wu at the recent Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, when he prevailed and went on to scoop the £500,000 top prize. However, it required a fightback from 4-0 down to beat Wu 5-4. Trump admits that he was looking for routes home during the interval of that match.
Trump said: “I was 4-0 down and ended up looking for flights at 4-0 down in the interval. You can check my history if you want! It is just funny how snooker goes having won that event and got to the quarters here.”
World number three Mark Allen prevailed in an marathon encounter with John Higgins 4-3 to make the quarter-finals of the BetVictor English Open in Brentwood.
Higgins captured a piece of snooker history by becoming the sport’s second player to register 1000 career centuries, but it was Allen who prevailed in a gruelling final frame.
It was Northern Irishman Allen who took an early 2-0 lead, having crafted a break of exactly 100 in the opener. Scotland’s four-time World Champion Higgins cut his arrears in half with 108 in the third, but it was Allen who took the fourth to go 3-1 up.
The landmark moment for Higgins came in the fifth with a break of 108 to reach 1000 centuries, he then made 65 in the next to force a tense decider.
A 50-minute frame saw lengthy safety exchanges where no balls were potted. With Allen leading, Higgins had his chance to steal the win, but he spurned a pink off the spot and the Antrim cueman got himself over the line. He now faces a quarter-final with Chris Wakelin, who came through 4-3 against Pang Junxu.
“I’m just delighted to win a tight one against John. Normally when I beat him it is a one-sided game so it is nice to finally get on the right side of a close one against him for a change,” said former UK and Masters champion Allen.
“I wanted John to have his moment when he did it and enjoy that 1000th century. We were just about to start the next frame and I went to congratulate him on my own. He said to me he was glad to have done it against someone like me. That means a lot coming from John. I actually said to him at the end it was a shame he had to be on the losing side after creating a piece of history. What a guy John Higgins is. He thoroughly deserves that.“
Australia’s Neil Robertson continued his resurgence with a 4-1 defeat of Ross Muir to make the quarter-finals. The 2010 World Champion has slumped to 26th in the rankings but is showing signs of returning to his best. He now faces Barry Hawkins, who scored a fine 4-2 win over World Champion Kyren Wilson.
I don’t have much to add to this. I’m very impressed with Ishpreet Singh Chadha. I hope that, unlike Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta, he will settle well in the UK and does not become too homesick. India is very different from the UK, of course, in every aspect … the climate, the food, the social life.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 