British potters have enjoyed a successful few days at the Shanghai Masters and the likes of Jack Lisowski, Mark Allen, Graeme Dott, Mark Selby, Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins have all reached the last 16. The ranking event in China has been heavily dominated by British players since its inception in 2007, with eight of the previous 10 winners coming from England, Wales or Scotland.
The tournament has never previously been won by a Northern Irishman and Allen is hoping to change that statistic this year after coasting through the opening two rounds. The world number six made easy work of Bingtao Yan and Fergal O’Brien earlier this week, dropping just one frame as he went on to win 5-1 and 5-0 respectively. Allen’s reward is a meeting with world number 44 Lisowksk in the last 16 after the Englishman edged past China’s Yupeng Cao 5-4. Lisowski boasts a strong head-to-head record against Allen and will be confident on causing another upset, having won two of their three past engagements.
Meanwhile, Dott, Hawkins, Trump and Selby have also booked their places in the last 16 but must wait to learn their opponents. The 2011 winner Selby, who is priced at 4/1 to win the UK Championship 2017, has scraped through both of his matches 5-4 – against Chris Wakelin and Alan McManus – and will be hoping for a more routine trip to the table next time out. English duo Trump and Hawkins never looked in danger of suffering an early exit during their round two matches as they saw off Ben Woollaston and Michael White 5-0 and 5-3 respectively. Dott has also looked much improved at the event in China and was far too strong for Robbie Williams in the second round.
Snooker odds available at Dafabet.