The 2024 Wuhan Open draw is down to its final eight contenders with the quarter-finals set to take place on Thursday in China.
Half of the remaining players are Chinese, so there is a good chance that there will be some home interest come the end of the week’s play.
But the world number one lingers ominously and remains the favorite to collect the £140,000 top prize on Saturday.
A quick look at the four quarter-finals in the Wuhan Open draw below are as follows.
Judd Trump vs Chris Wakelin
Judd Trump is participating in his 14th tournament of the 2024 calendar year, and he has reached the quarter-finals or better every single time.
That level of consistency has rarely been seen in the sport, and the Englishman remains on course to land a fifth piece of silverware since January.
Two of those have already come this season – the Shanghai Masters invitational followed by the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Riyadh.
Chris Wakelin on the other hand represents the next challenge to overcome, his countryman having produced a remarkable performance to beat Ding Junhui in the last 16 on Wednesday.
Wakelin compiled a hat-trick of century breaks – made consecutively – en route to a 5-3 victory and a second last-eight appearance in a ranking event this term.
The stats are not in the 32-year-old’s favor when it comes to playing Trump, though, with Wakelin losing all 13 previous meetings on the main tour.
Zhang Anda vs Si Jiahui
The match between Zhang Anda and Si Jiahui will ensure that there’ll be at least one Chinese cueist represented at the semi-final stage.
Zhang fought back from 3-0 and 4-2 down to end the aspirations of Mark Joyce, the amateur top-up who was a late replacement in this tournament for Ronnie O’Sullivan.
It was an extremely dramatic climax, with last year’s International Championship winner prevailing in the deciding frame on a respotted black.
Si enjoyed a more comfortable time of it and contributed three tons during his 5-2 defeat of Duane Jones.
Jack Lisowski vs Long Zehuang
There’s no doubting the fact that Jack Lisowski has been playing the best snooker of the 2024 Wuhan Open so far.
The 33-year-old added Wu Yize to his recent list of easy conquests, thrashing the English Open runner-up with a whitewash scoreline.
Lisowski has lost just two frames this week – compiling five centuries and ten more half-century breaks in the process.
Whether he can sustain that level and ultimately challenge to finally win that elusive ranking title is the obvious big question.
Lisowski will be the favorite against local lad Long Zehuang in the quarter-finals, but Long has impressed, too, as he hunts down a top 64 ranking for the first time in his career.
Shaun Murphy vs Xiao Guodong
Shaun Murphy’s 5-4 defeat of Ali Carter in the last round means that, among those left in the 2024 Wuhan Open draw, only Judd Trump has safeguarded his spot in the upcoming Champion of Champions.
A former winner of that prestigious invitational, Murphy would love to get his hands on this week’s trophy and simultaneously seal a ticket to Bolton too.
The Magician, a runner-up in Shanghai during the summer, plays Xiao Guodong for a berth in the semi-finals.
Xiao followed up his standout success over world champion Kyren Wilson in the last 32 by taking the scalp of Barry Hawkins.
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