Martin Gould continued his love affair with the German Masters as he reached the semi-finals and set-up a contest with Ali Carter. That match will precede Stuart Bingham against surprise package Anthony Hamilton.
Martin Gould v Ali Carter
Gould has struggled to find his feet after winning the competition last year but has rekindled his form in Berlin. After cruising past Jamie Jones in the first round, Gould looked as if he could be up against it when he met Ricky Walden. Yet a tactically astute display saw him progress with a 5-3 victory, before defeating Ryan Day 5-2 in the quarter-finals. Day had defeated Mark Allen in his opening contest but could not force another surprise victory against Gould.
Ali Carter defeated Tom Ford by the same scoreline and had a mixed route to the final stages before that. After disposing of Stephen Maguire 5-1, he had to rely on a final frame decider to defeat Zhao Xintong. Yet he will be delighted with a 5-2 win over Ford who produced a 147 in his opening match and defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan's nemesis in Berlin, Mark King.
Stuart Bingham v Anthony Hamilton
Bingham is the highest ranked player left in the competition after he defeated Yan Bingtao in the quarter-finals; the World number 68 who had reached the final eight of a ranking competition for the first time in his career. The 2015 World Champion had not been in fine form up until that point, dropping seven frames from just two matches. Though Bingtao was unable to defeat a third higher ranked opponent in consecutive matches as he lost 5-2 to Bingham.
World number 66 Anthony Hamilton stunned Masters runner-up Barry Hawkins in a classic contest on Friday evening. After finding himself 4-3 down, Hamilton forced a final frame decider after a respotted black in frame eight and held his nerve to edge a surprise victory. His heroics came after already defeating former World Champion Mark Williams and the current World Champion Mark Selby on his way to the final eight.