Mark Selby edged a late night thriller, as David Gilbert bowed out in the cruelest possible fashion on the final black to lose 4-3 in the last 16 of the Cazoo British Open in Cheltenham.
With the clock just shy of 12:45am, the players found themselves battling it out on the last ball. Gilbert eventually took on a long range black to the green pocket, but the white tracked towards the top left corner and fell to end the match.
Selby progresses to face home favourite Jack Lisowski in the quarters tomorrow evening in what is set to be a showpiece clash. Lisowski came from behind to edge out 1999 British Open champion Fergal O’Brien 4-2.
“It was cruel really. He’d probably rather have messed a safety up or something than lose like that. It isn’t nice to lose that way when you’ve been playing a frame for that long. I felt that I could have won 4-1, 4-2 or 4-3. It was a horrible match from start to finish,” said four-time World Champion Selby.
“I played Shaun Murphy in the last 16 of the English Open last year and he missed a black off the spot to beat me 4-2. I managed to turn the match around, win 4-3 and went on to win the event. Sometimes you think your name is on the trophy, but it is only the quarter-finals so I’m not getting carried away.”
Lisowski is hunting his maiden ranking title and beat Matthew Selt, as well as O’Brien, in what was a long but successful day. Afterwards he admitted he had very little left in the tank.
Lisowski said: “I was tired tonight. I played so well against Matt and felt like I was bang on it. As soon as we started playing tonight I felt tired and different. My concentration wasn’t quite there. It was a contrast today. I managed to hang in there this evening and finish the game out somehow.”
Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei is through to his ninth ranking quarter-final after defeating Scotland’s 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott 4-2.
The world number 17 is now just three matches away from capturing a second ranking crown, having beaten Mark Williams in the final of the 2022 Shoot Out final to claim his first.
Vafaei now faces either He Guoqiang in the last eight. He missed two match ball blacks before eventually seeing off Barry Hawkins 4-3 on the last ball.
Mark Williams scored a superb 4-2 win over Ding Junhui to seal his progression. The Welshman lost the first two frames, but produced a four-frame burst to turn the tie on its head and get over the line. He now plays Fan Zhengyi, who beat Hailong Ma 4-1.
Tom Ford booked his last eight slot with a 4-1 win over Scott Donaldson. His opponent will be Xiao Guodong, who defeated Ali Carter 4-2.
