Trump sparkles to reach Xi'an Grand Prix last 16 as Williams and Allen also advance

Judd Trump was a man in a hurry on Wednesday morning as he raced to a quickfire 5-1 win over world No. 31 Lyu Haotian to book his spot in the Xi’an Grand Prix last 16.

The world No. 2 is bidding for back-to-back title wins in China following his success at the Shanghai Masters last month and produced breaks of 61, 68, 94, 57 and 57 with Lyu preventing the whitewash with a 103 in the fifth frame.

Trump will next meet close friend Jack Lisowski or world finalist Jak Jones, who defeated him 13-9 in the Crucible quarter-finals in April, for a quarter-final spot in Xi’an.

Mark Williams is also through to the last 16 courtesy of a 5-2 win over Chris Wakelin that saw the three-time world champion roll in breaks of 61, 102, 91 and 101, with former Shoot Out winner Wakelin firing 107 of his own in the sixth frame.

Next up for the Welshman is a match with 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham or Xu Si on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Barry Hawkins enjoyed his first action of the event following his bye in the second round due to Scott Donaldson’s absence, as he overcame Ryan Day 5-3 to progress to the last 16.

Hawkins opened with century breaks of 102 and 104 before Day levelled at 2-2 boosted by a 103 in the third frame, but it was former world finalist Hawkins who won three of the closing four frames to secure a fourth-round meeting with world No. 1 Mark Allen, who revelled in superb runs of 112, 133, 76, 82 and a closing 64 in a 5-2 victory over Xiao Guodong.

Seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is in evening action in Xi’an as he faces Yuan Sijun (12:30pm BST) with the winner of that match taking on Graeme Dott or Hossein Vafaei in the last 16.