A busy Scottish Open schedule has seen the attract Edinburgh whittled all the way down to its final eight contenders.

There was a culling of the highest 16 seeds through the first few days on the Meadowbank Sports activities Centre, leaving simply two from that bracket left combating for the silverware.

There are two extra confirmed rating occasion winners among the many remaining six, together with a former world champion, whereas half of the octet is bidding for a maiden rating occasion success.

Let’s take a look on the 4 Scottish Open quarter-finals on Friday’s schedule.

Gary Wilson vs Chris Wakelin

Friday, not earlier than 2pm

It has been a terrific title defence for high seed Gary Wilson thus far, who has established a sound reference to Edinburgh for the reason that occasion transfer there final season.

The Englishman prevailed from three deciding-frame thrillers to achieve the fourth spherical, together with a victory over Joe O’Connor in what was a repeat of the 2022 last.

Within the final 16, Wilson’s enhance in confidence was mirrored in his scoring, as he reeled off breaks of 89, 88 87, and 80 to see off Rory Thor.

Chris Wakelin stands in Wilson’s means of a return to the final 4.

Wakelin upset Kyren Wilson on Thursday, with the 4-2 scoreline guaranteeing that the latter will fail in his last-gasp quest to qualify for the upcoming World Grand Prix.

Former Shoot Out champion Wakelin has confronted Gary Wilson 5 instances beforehand in rating occasions with just one win to his identify – though it was on this very occasion again in 2019.

Zhou Yuelong vs Stuart Bingham

Friday, 12pm

After a barren couple of seasons throughout which he has plummeted down the rankings checklist, Stuart Bingham has proven indicators of a welcome return to type this week.

The 2015 world champion beat Irishman Aaron Hill 4-2 on Thursday earlier than orchestrating a whitewash win over the ever-improving Zhang Anda.

The final of Bingham’s six rating titles was on the 2019 Gibraltar Open, however everyone seems to be properly conscious of his class on his day.

Bingham has already gained the Welsh and English Opens on the Residence Nations sequence and would love so as to add the Scottish title to that assortment.

Zhou Yuelong would be the subsequent problem to beat, the Chinese language cueist having reached this level courtesy of triumphs over Andrew Higginson and Dominic Dale.

It represents a 3rd quarter-final look of the marketing campaign for Zhou, who’s once more knocking on the door of a breakthrough.

Bingham leads the pair’s head-to-head 5-3, though none of Zhou’s wins have are available in matches of any vital size.

Sanderson Lam vs Noppon Saengkham

Friday, 7pm

Whereas Zhang Anda is the apparent alternative for probably the most improved participant this time period, Sanderson Lam deserves a point out as properly.

The Leeds potter has represented a vastly improved competitor for the reason that begin of this season, and now he has a primary ever rating occasion quarter-final to point out for it.

Lam has twice upset the house crowd this week – first with a 4-3 defeat of rookie Liam Graham earlier than then additionally ousting Anthony McGill.

The 29 year-old shall be hoping to increase his run additional into the weekend when he takes on Noppon Saengkham.

Saengkham has been constant this yr however doesn’t have an look on the correct enterprise stage to point out for his efforts.

Powerful victories over Ali Carter and Matthew Selt have taken him one step nearer to a primary semi-final of the marketing campaign.

The Thai has encountered Lam solely as soon as, and it was a very long time in the past on the Gibraltar Open in 2017.

Lam prevailed that day, but it surely was early on within the competitors and Saengkham boasts far better expertise at this stage of a event.

John Higgins vs Tom Ford

Friday, 7pm

The standout quarter-final conflict on Friday’s schedule on the Scottish Open is the one between John Higgins and Tom Ford.

The previous is the ultimate hope for a house glory, and for a participant from Scotland to elevate the Stephen Hendry Trophy aloft for the primary time.

After scrambling previous Ricky Walden within the final 32, Higgins beat Lyu Haotian 4-2 to extend his keep within the occasion.

Ford’s route has had an analogous look to it, with the Englishman backing up his deciding-frame success over Ding Junhui with a 4-2 win in opposition to Martin O’Donnell.

The 40 year-old got here near breaking his rating occasion duck when he reached the last of the Worldwide Championship final month.

If he can get past Higgins, Ford shall be wanting on the draw and considering this might lastly be his week.

Overcoming the four-time world champion shall be simpler mentioned than carried out, however their head-to-head is a little bit deceptive.

Whereas Higgins has a superior 11-5 file, a variety of the Wizard of Wishaw’s wins have come within the Championship League, and their final 4 matches in all competitions have ended with the identical outcome – wins for Ford.

Scottish Open draw

Spherical of 128 (bo7)

Gary Wilson 4-3 Elliott Slessor
Xing Zihao 4-3 Fergal O’Brien
Joe O’Connor 4-0 Andy Lee
Scott Donaldson 4-3 Ashley Hugill
Hossein Vafaei 3-4 Daniel Wells
Rory Thor 4-1 Graeme Dott
Ryan Day 4-2 Jiang Jun
Ashley Carty 4-2 Andres Petrov

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Ma Hailong
Chris Wakelin 4-2 Mark Joyce
Yuan Sijun 4-0 Muhammad Asif
Mark Williams 3-4 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams 4-1 Rod Lawler
David Gilbert 4-3 Jak Jones
Jordan Brown 4-2 Adam Duffy
Kyren Wilson 4-2 Mostafa Dorgham

Mark Allen 2-4 Jamie Jones
Dominic Dale 4-1 Ross Muir
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Amaan Iqbal
Jimmy White 4-3 Duane Jones
Robert Milkins 0-4 Mark Davis
Andrew Higginson 4-3 Allan Taylor
Zhou Yuelong 4-0 Anthony Hamilton
Martin Gould 4-2 Reanne Evans

Manasawain Phetmalaikuk 4-2 Ben Woollaston
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Michael White
Aaron Hill 4-1 Ken Doherty
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Julien Leclercq 4-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Si Jiahui 4-3 Tian Pengfei
Zhang Anda 4-2 Andy Hicks
Judd Trump 4-0 Sydney Wilson

Liam Graham w/o Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ben Mertens 4-0 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Sanderson Lam 4-3 Fan Zhengyi
Cao Yupeng 4-2 David Lilley
Barry Hawkins 3-4 Pang Junxu
Xu Si 4-0 Mink Nutcharut
Anthony McGill 4-0 Ryan Thomerson
Oliver Traces 4-0 John Astley

Lukas Kleckers 4-1 Stuart Carrington
Noppon Saengkham 4-0 Rebecca Kenna
Jack Borwick 1-4 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Ali Carter 4-3 Lengthy Zehuang
Alfie Burden 4-1 Ian Burns
Matthew Selt 4-1 Dylan Emery
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Victory Sarkis
Mark Selby 4-2 Sean O’Sullivan

Shaun Murphy 1-4 Liu Hongyu
Zak Surety 4-1 Liam Pullen
Lyu Haotian 4-2 Joe Perry
Jackson Web page 4-1 Himanshu Jain
John Higgins 4-0 Oliver Brown
He Guoqiang 4-0 Peng Yisong
Ricky Walden 4-3 Hammad Miah
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-0 Wu Yize

Liam Highfield 4-0 Dean Younger
Tom Ford 4-1 Louis Heathcote
Jenson Kendrick 4-2 Anton Kazakov
Ding Junhui 4-0 David Grace
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Andrew Pagett
Jamie Clarke 4-2 Xiao Guodong
James Cahill 4-3 Stan Moody
Luca Brecel 4-0 Iulian Boiko

Spherical of 64 (bo7)

Gary Wilson 4-3 Xing Zihao
Joe O’Connor 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Daniel Wells 3-4 Rory Thor
Ryan Day 3-4 Ashley Carty
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-4 Chris Wakelin
Yuan Sijun 0-4 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams 3-4 David Gilbert
Jordan Brown 0-4 Kyren Wilson

Jamie Jones 3-4 Dominic Dale
Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Jimmy White
Mark Davis 1-4 Andrew Higginson
Zhou Yuelong w/o Martin Gould
Manasawin Phetmalaikul 0-4 Stuart Bingham
Aaron Hill 4-1 Jack Lisowski
Julien Leclercq 2-4 Si Jiahui
Zhang Anda 4-2 Judd Trump

Liam Graham 4-2 Ben Mertens
Sanderson Lam 4-1 Cao Yupeng
Pang Junxu 4-1 Xu Si
Anthony McGill 4-2 Oliver Traces
Lukas Kleckers 1-4 Noppon Saengkham
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3-4 Ali Carter
Alfie Burden 1-4 Matthew Selt
Matthew Stevens 3-4 Mark Selby

Liu Hongyu 4-0 Zak Surety
Lyu Haotian 4-0 Jackson Web page
John Higgins 4-1 He Guoqiang
Ricky Walden 4-3 Alexander Ursenbacher
Liam Highfield 2-4 Tom Ford
Jenson Kendrick 1-4 Ding Junhui
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Jamie Clarke
James Cahill 3-4 Luca Brecel

Spherical of 32 (bo7)

Gary Wilson 4-3 Joe O’Connor
Rory Thor 4-3 Ashley Carty
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Sam Craigie
David Gilbert 3-4 Kyren Wilson

Dominic Dale 4-1 Jimmy White
Andrew Higginson 2-4 Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Aaron Hill
Si Jiahui 2-4 Zhang Anda

Liam Graham 3-4 Sanderson Lam
Pang Junxu 2-4 Anthony McGill
Noppon Saengkham 4-2 Ali Carter
Matthew Selt 4-3 Mark Selby

Liu Hongyu 2-4 Lyu Haotian
John Higgins 4-3 Ricky Walden
Tom Ford 3-4 Ding Junhui
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Luca Brecel

Spherical of 16 (bo7)

Gary Wilson 4-1 Rory Thor
Chris Wakelin 4-2 Kyren Wilson
Dominic Dale 0-4 Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Zhang Anda

Sanderson Lam 4-1 Anthony McGill
Noppon Saengkham 4-3 Matthew Selt
Lyu Haotian 2-4 John Higgins
Tom Ford 4-2 Martin O’Donnell

Quarter-Finals (bo9)

Matches to be performed on Friday, Dec 15

Gary Wilson vs Chris Wakelin (not earlier than 2pm)
Zhou Yuelong vs Stuart Bingham (12pm)

Sanderson Lam vs Noppon Saengkham (7pm)
John Higgins vs Tom Ford (7pm)

Semi-Finals (bo11)

Matches to be performed on Saturday, Dec 16

Closing (bo17)

Match to be performed on Sunday, Dec 17

Featured picture credit score: WST