Si brushes aside Milkins to reach last 8
Chinese debutant Si Jiahui beat Robert Milkins 13-7 to cruise into the quarter-finals of the World Championship yesterday.
Leading 11-5 overnight, Si needed just two frames from the afternoon session in Sheffield, and took a scrappy opener before Milkins rallied with breaks of 69 and 55.
However, a missed red into the top corner by the Englishman allowed Si to wrap up his win with a superb break of 105.
The 20-year-old will face Anthony McGill or Jack Lisowski in the last eight.
“I can’t believe I’ve made it to the quarter-finals – but I can’t believe I made it to the Crucible,” Si told the BBC through an interpreter. “I’m just trying to learn from the other players rather than trying to win.
“I’m very honoured to be in this position, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I just want to enjoy this Crucible experience.”
While Si will appear in the last eight for the first time, John Higgins is set to make his 17th quarter-final. The four-time winner, who first took the title 25 years ago in 1998, crushed Kyren Wilson 13-2 on Sunday in their second-round clash.
Higgins was dominant right from the start and cruised to an 8-0 lead in the opening session.
Wilson had a brief rally in the ninth frame, which Higgins stole on the black, but the Scot then went 10-0 up with a brilliant break of 128.
Wilson pulled one back in the 11th but Higgins restored his 10-frame lead by taking the next frame on the black.
Separately, 10 Chinese players face match-fixing charges as an independent panel considers the evidence against them at a hearing that began yesterday.
The allegations include manipulating games, approaching players to cheat, betting on snooker and fixing a match.
In October, Liang Wenbo was suspended by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Nine others followed, including Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong.