Only three of the world's top 10 are still in the World Grand Prix as a third day of upsets in Wales left the title open for anyone to take on Sunday.
The champion is trumped by Stuart
The day's play began with a comfortable victory for Ding Junhui over Peter Ebdon. The man from China won all four frames with relative ease, scoring breaks of 78, 63 and 89 in the opening three frames to secure a quarter-final berth.
Yet that result was not about to set a trend of predictable victories as Thepchaiya Un-Nooh backed up his victory over Marco Fu with another against world number nine Mark Allen. The man from Northern Ireland took a 2-0 lead, before Un-Nooh ground out four tight frames to seal an unlikely victory and set up an all Far East quarter-final match with Ding Junhui.
The most intriguing tie of the round saw reigning champion Judd Trump take on world number two Stuart Bingham. As the match was deadlocked at 1-1, Bingham found another gear to take a 3-1 advantage, assisted by two half century breaks in those two frames. Trump struck back in the fifth frame, but Bingham was too strong in the sixth as he took the game 4-2 in an attempt to find his form in 2016.
What a Day for Ryan
The match of the day took place between Ryan Day and John Higgins. The pair exchanged frames, with Scotsman Higgins unable to steal an advantage as the local favourite took a surprise 4-3 victory in a high quality game to set up a quarter-final tie with Bingham. Three century breaks between the two were a joy to watch, with Higgins' solitary 107 break the string of the match.
Ali Carter has struggled for form in recent years but is beginning to look strong in 2016. He took on Tom Ford, who knocked out Mark Selby, and cruised through with a comfortable 4-0 victory. Carter made four half century breaks, including a 98 in the first, as Ford made just 81 points altogether.
Joe Perry also made quick work of Kyren Wilson to set up a tie with Carter on Friday. Perry won three frames to nil, with a 125 in the fifth the pick of the bunch.