Aaron Hill's run at the Xi'an Open came to an end at the last 16 stage on Friday after Liam Pullen stormed to a 5-1 win in the last 16.
Corkman Hill, 23, came into this match off the back of a 5-1 win of his own, having impressively dismantled Mark Davis.
However Pullen turned on the style to make his first ranking quarter-final.
Trailing 4-1 in the best-of-nine-frames contest, Hill missed a black to get it back to 4-2, leaving the ball in the jaws of the pocket. That was a gift 20-year-old Englishman Pullen would not refuse, knocking it in to steal the frame and wrap up the match.
DRAMA TO THE END! 😅#XianGP pic.twitter.com/i0FwtUnNZX
— WST (@WeAreWST) October 10, 2025
Ronnie O'Sullivan continued his excellent form at the tournament with two centuries and three more 50-plus breaks in a 5-2 win over Jak Jones.
O'Sullivan had dropped just one frame in three matches to reach the last 16 and the seven-time world champion was similarly untroubled by his Welsh opponent on Friday afternoon.
Breaks of 58, 135 and 100 helped O'Sullivan establish a 3-1 lead by the mid-session interval, while a 53 saw him move further ahead before Jones pulled one back with a fine 140 visit.
O'Sullivan, back in action this week for the first time since losing a last-frame decider to Neil Robertson at the Saudi Arabia Masters final in August, then made an 81 break to seal victory.
He will next take on Gary Wilson, who reeled off breaks of 101 and 117 en route to a 5-0 thrashing of home hope He Guoqiang, the conqueror of world number three Neil Robertson in the previous round.
Shaun Murphy produced an outstanding display to whitewash defending champion and world number two Kyren Wilson, who was restricted to just six points to his opponent's 533 in a row.
As with O'Sullivan, Murphy made a 50-plus break in each frame, including scores of 141 and 133 against Wilson.
"That's pretty much as good as I've ever played," Murphy said afterwards. "That's one of the best best-of-nine matches I've ever been a part of.
"It's mad. You play so many matches around the world through all your life and every now and then it comes together. I didn't expect to play that well."
Ahead of his quarter-final showdown against Ding Junhui, who beat Oliver Lines 5-1, Murphy added: "It was just a mad day.
"You put all the hours of practice in for moments like that. I'll do exactly the same for my match tomorrow and I'll probably play rubbish. It's a mad game."
Mark Williams edged out Barry Hawkins 5-4, while Daniel Wells and Lyu Haotian also advanced to the last eight.
