THE GREAT march of Gloucester’s Robert Milkins in this week’s Welsh Open in Cardiff shows no signs of slowing down as he reached Friday’s quarter-finals along with world number four Judd Trump, from Bristol.
And there is a real chance that either player could go all the way and lift the trophy on Sunday as the competition opens up.
There are only three players in the top 16 left in the tournament, with one of them going out on Friday when Trump plays number 13 Barry Hawkins, who won the Grand Prix in Preston last Sunday.
Milkins has only dropped three frames in four matches, with two whitewashes to his name against China’s Yu Delu in round one and Ireland’s Josh Boileau in the third stage.
And the world number 32 beat another Chinese player on Thursday in the last 16 with a 4-2 victory over Mei Xiwen that he had to really tough out and which finished after midnight on Friday morning.
Now he is up against Norway’s world number 43 Kurt Maflin who has battled his way through the tournament with a place in Saturday’s semi-final on the line for the winner.
That will be the case for Trump as well when he takes on Hawkns. The Bristol potter, who is the highest ranked player left in the Welsh Open, beat the star of the tournament, 15-year-old Welsh amateur Jackson Page on Thursday morning before dropping just one frame in his 4-1 last 16 victory over Iran’s Hossein Vafeai Ayouri during the evening.
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