\n<\/p>\n
Selby’s credentials are well established. As a multi-title winner at this event, the World Championship and the Masters, nobody would be surprised to see him lift the trophy on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Against Zhou he opened up with a 73 but was then forced to dig deep and stay focused.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Zhou checked out of his hotel before achieving a last-32 win over Ronnie O’Sullivan, such were his low expectations for that match.<\/p>\n
A repeat performance against Selby was a tall order, but Zhou delivered the highlight of the evening with a sublime run of 132 to go 2-1 ahead. <\/p>\n
Selby went 62 minutes and 50 seconds without potting a ball at one point before getting back to 2-2.<\/p>\n
From that point onwards, the Leicester man took complete control.<\/p>\n
He jokingly looked at his watch after winning a prolonged fifth frame that lasted over 53 minutes before knocking in runs of 71, 75 and 56 to set up a last-eight meeting with Elliot Slessor or Barry Hawkins.<\/p>\n
“At 2-2 I was over the moon. After 3-2 I felt like I controlled the match and played some decent stuff,” Selby said.<\/p>\n
While Zhou this time could check out of York for another year, his Chinese compatriot Pang remains in the hunt.<\/p>\n
Pang, who lost 6-1 in his only previous meeting with Welshman Williams, was given a standing ovation after rounding off his win this time with a superb break of 116.<\/p>\n
After the players split the opening two frames, the 25-year-old from China won the next three.<\/p>\n
Williams, who made two centuries, briefly rallied to get back to 4-3, but the 50-year-old inadvertently knocked in a red while potting the pink to hand his opponent the advantage in the next, and was then punished for missing a long red in the ninth frame.<\/p>\n
“I played pretty poor. That’s how it is now – I either play well or terrible,” said Williams.<\/p>\n
“I have no grumbles. He was the better player.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n