Scottish Open: Ronnie O'Sullivan through to Mark Selby clash

Rocket fires into last eight

Ronnie O’Sullivan set up a quarter final clash with Mark Selby at the Scottish Open after beating Joe Perry 4-2 in Glasgow on Thursday.

In a high-quality match O’Sullivan ensured his spot in the last eight with an excellent break of 106 in the sixth frame to see off the dogged Perry.

It was a tight encounter for the first four frames, with O’Sullivan going 1-0 up after a break of 87 only for Perry to level things up after a scrappy second frame.

O’Sullivan went 2-1 up thanks to a clearance of 84 after Perry had been looking good in the frame (he had 51 points on the board when the Rocket came to the table), but the world number 16 levelled things up again with the highest break of the tournament (139).

Things were in the balance at that stage, but O’Sullivan pulled away after that with a break of 69 in frame five before the century finish.

“If anything I’ll get more attacking,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport when asked how he’d approach the Selby encounter.

“If he starts putting balls on the cushion I’m just going to start smashing them out in the open. Let’s have it.”

Selby eased into the quarter finals with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Jimmy Robertson.

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh powered his way into the last eight with a whitewash of Neil Robertson. The Thai produced breaks of 81, 78 and 74 on his way to a 4-0 victory after earlier dumping Marco Fu out of the tournament, and will now face Jack Lisowski.

There was a 4-2 win for Lisowski over former world champion John Higgins, while David Gilbert beat Shaun Murphy by the same score.

Judd Trump lost just two frames as he saw off the challenge of Graeme Dott, who had ended UK Championship winner Ding Junhui's participation in the previous round, and will now go head-to-head with Gilbert.

Defending champion Mark Allen advanced to the last eight courtesy of a 4-1 triumph against Chris Wakelin as he wrapped up victory with a 104 break.

Allen will take on Scotland's Scott Donaldson after he made it through with a 4-2 win over China's Zhang Jiankang.

Earlier on...

Ronnie O'Sullivan bagged two centuries in another imperious display to coast through to the evening session at the Scottish Open.

O'Sullivan beat James Cahill in just 32 minutes on Wednesday night and while Martin Gould took longer to fold, the end result was the same - a 4-0 romp for the 44-year-old.

The Rocket started with intent, bagging a 109 break, before a 110 in the third frame took him to the brink of victory. Gould played on when snookers were required in frame four, but a thin cut on the yellow saw O'Sullivan advance.

"I thought it was alright, I feel like I've played really well all season - just probably haven't had the results to back it up," he told Eurosport.

"He hasn't missed a lot, because I punished him a lot. I think he struggled on the match table. It is a bit of an advantage if you're always playing your matches on the TV table."

Asked by Neal Foulds whether it was really possible to be attacking, or whether he had to play the shot in front of him, O'Sullivan stressed that his options are more varied than most.

"It's like a Brazilian with a football, he does things nobody else can do - I sometimes feel like that at a table. I can manufacture the white and make it do things."

And as for his motivation, which had been questioned in the first round when he limped to victory over Dominic Dale, O'Sullivan added: "Of course I care - I'm just enjoying it.

"If I can't enjoy it at this stage of my career, there's no point doing it."

O'Sullivan heads into the evening session and a meeting with Joe Perry, but Ding Junhui does not after the UK Championship hero crashed out in a 4-0 defeat to Graeme Dott.

It's been a remarkable week for the Scotsman, who limited Igor Figueiredo to just six shots and zero points in a first-round demolition job, before thumping Ben Woollaston 4-1.

Things looked set to be tougher against Ding, but Dott took the first frame with a 57 break, edged a tight second, and continued to take advantage of a potentially fatigued opponent thereafter.

"I don't think I've ever done it," said Dott of his first-round win, before adding: "Obviously (I've) got a lot of family here, who don't normally get a chance to see me. I'm just delighted to be through.

"I've played really well all year. I played a bad match against Stephen Maguire at the UK Championship - I don't know where that came from. It's nice to keep it going, especially in Scotland."

Related links

• Scottish Open draw & schedule