THE JOHN AND RONNIE SHOW

An extraordinary day's snooker in Beijing on Tuesday saw Mark Williams make four centuries and still lose 5-4 to Stephen Lee, who made one of the finest clearances imaginable to win the decider, including the final black using the rest.

Meanwhile Ding Junhui roared back from 4-1 down to beat Kurt Maflin 5-4, Shaun Murphy recovered to defeat Joe Perry and Marcus Campbell edged out Mark Allen in a decider.

Mark davis played really well to beat Stephen Maguire while Chinese wildcard Li Hang landed the scalp of a second successive world champion as he followed his defeat of Ken Doherty by beating Graeme Dott.

All this and John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan are yet to play. The duo enter the fray today. Higgins will be heavy favourite to beat Nigel Bond, a man respionsible for inflicting on the Scot one of his most disappointing defeats.

It came in the final of the 1996 British Open in Plymouth. Bond needed a snooker in the deciding frame, got it and won on the black.

Higgins has been so focused and so relentlessly reliable since his return from his suspension that he has to be favourite to win in Beijing this week.

But despite the season he's had, you can never count out O'Sullivan's chances. He has looked demotivated and disinterested for much of the campaign but if he's in the mood, he can still turn it on.

It's good news that he's travelled to China at all. He always draws a huge crowd there. Then again, he went last year and didn't seem to try.

Ryan Day beat him in the Welsh Open and, like Lee and Matthew Stevens, seems to have rediscovered some form of late.

So some great stuff so far and I've no doubt it'll continue today. Things are bubbling up nicely for the greatest test of them all just around the corner...