Hamilton downs O'Sullivan

O'Sullivan opened with a run of 92, but found Hamilton a tougher proposition than James Wattana, who he drubbed 5-1 in the first round in China.

A 49 helped Hamilton level at 1-1 before a break of 107 saw him edge 2-1 clear. O'Sullivan knocked in a 65 in the fourth frame to restore parity at the mid-session interval, but Hamilton continued to look the likelier figure among the balls.

A 73 saw O'Sullivan lead by the odd frame in five before Hamilton moved one up with a possible two to play courtesy of a 94 and a 72. Both men missed chances in the eighth frame, but Hamilton kept his composure as a solid 63 provided him with his passage to the last eight.

O'Sullivan did not play badly in a high quality match, but Hamilton was back to the sort of form that helped him reach the finals of the British Open in 1999 and the China Open three years later.

Hamilton will face Mark King in the last eight after the Londoner outlasted Ireland's Fergal O'Brien 5-3 in a contest that ran for three hours and 21 minutes.

King's top break was a 60 in the third frame that gave him a 3-0 lead with O'Brien making 54 and 43 to level at 3-3. A 45 and a 47 helped King over the winning line.

Mark Williams rode roughshod over Robert Milkins to seal his spot in the quarter-finals with a thumping 5-1 win.

The world number one Williams was rarely troubled by Milkins in waltzing through in just over an hour in China, while world number two Mark Selby overwhelmed Jamie Cope 5-0 to join Williams in the last eight.

Selby will face Shaun Murphy - who won the final three frames of an epic clash with Mark Allen to complete a 5-4 victory - with Williams set to meet Matthew Stevens for a place in the semi-finals after his fellow Welshman completed a comfortable 5-1 win over Martin Gould, who was brought back down to earth with a bump after his 5-3 win over home favourite Ding Junhui on Wednesday.

Williams rolled in breaks of 54, 57, 130 and 82 as Milkins wilted under the strain of the Welshman's carefree scoring less than a day after he had eliminated seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry, who is set to drop out of the official top 16 for the first time in 23 years.

Selby was also purposeful in completing a conclusive success over Cope, compiling knocks of 46, 64, 110 and 70 with Cope's best break of the match - a modest 36 in the third frame - never going to be enough to trouble a player of Selby's class.

World champion John Higgins was never at his best against Australian Open winner Stuart Bingham, but showed his considerable matchplay skills to recover from trailing 2-1 to complete a 5-2 victory in a match that was littered with dogged tactical play rather than heavy break-building.

Higgins said: "It was not the best standard, it was scrappy. Stuart has been in good form so I was lucky that he wasn't at his best today.

"I think in the first few weeks of the season a lot of the top players were rusty, myself included. But now we're starting to find some form so it's no surprise that the bigger names are getting through here."

Higgins ended Bingham's bid for another overseas title by wrapping up the victory with a run of 69 - the highest break of the match. His reward is a meeting with Neil Robertson in the last eight after the 2010 world champion progressed with a 5-2 success against Michael Holt.

John Higgins v Neil Robertson

Mark Selby v Shaun Murphy

Mark Williams v Matthew Stevens

Mark King v Anthony Hamilton