Ding out, Yan stays at Snooker Welsh Open

LONDON - China's top snooker player Ding Junhui failed to reach the quarterfinals at the Welsh Open as the world number nine was defeated by Kyren Wilson 4-2 on Thursday.

The 32-year-old Chinese ace beat Jimmy Robertson 4-1 in the third round. Then he opened the last 16 match with a 2-1 lead before Wilson winning the last three frames in a row.

Wilson, who made a 147 break in the opening frame of his first-round match, will fight for a semifinal berth against Australian Neil Robertson.

Ding's compatriot Yan Bingtao edged Anthony McGill 4-3 to reach the quarterfinal against veteran John Higgins.

Earlier, Yan took a narrow win over newly-crowned Masters champion Stuart Bingham.

Yan, who turns 20 on Sunday, won his first ranking title in Riga Masters last July and reached the semifinals at the UK Championships in December.

Ronnie O'Sullivan easily passed Soheil Vahedi 4-0 to set up a last-eight encounter against Mark Selby, who edged China's Zhao Xintong 4-3.

Reigning world champion Judd Trump's quarterfinal opponent is Shaun Murphy.