KARACHI, Dec 2: Pakistan's top cueist Saleh Muhammad entered the quarterfinal of World Snooker Championship beating Xiao Guedong of China 5-3 in Veldhoven (Holland) according to a message received on Thursday.

Brilliant Saleh recovered after dropping the opening frame before chalking out an exciting 56-59, 65-58, 81-16, 79-41, 71-8, 40-52, 17-72, 82-7 win. After losing the first frame, Saleh raced to 4-1 lead by picking four successive frames before Xiao halted his progress by grabbing the next two frames to make it 4-3. But Saleh, who finished runner-up in the last year's world championship in Ching Ming City (China) sealed the fate of the match by wrapping up the decider in smart fashion 82-7.

In the quarterfinal Saleh will be up against Mark Allen of Northern Ireland. The match was due to be played late Thursday. David Morris of Ireland ended the run by Khurram Hussain Agha with 5-3 victory.

Khurram got the opening frame without going to the table as Morris reported late for his match. But that mistake failed to deter Morris from recording 87-45, 136-0, 0-80, 90-5, 71-30, 94-0 triumph.

Earlier in his last-32 round Khurram Agha defeated Michael Philbin of Scotland 5-2 to sail in the pre-quarters. Pakistan number one Khurram appearing in his third world championship displayed controlled potting to emerge 87-11, 68-12, 71-25, 0-83, 66-25, 9-78, 96-0 winner.

Khurram surprised his opponent Philbin after some resistance 5-2. Khurram won the first three frames convincingly with the help of over 40 breaks a couple of time. Khurram got the first frame 87-11, second 68-12 and third 71-25.

Khurram needing just two more frames in the best of five frames match lost the fourth frames 0-33. Philbin by offering the resistance in the fourth frame and making the match 1-3 tried in vain to come close to Khurram in the fourth frame, which he lost 25-66.

However Philbin somehow came out well in the sixth frame to remain in the contention and winning it 78-9 and making the match 2-4. Khurram losing two frames after winning easily the first three frames regained his confidence and form in the seventh frame and did not allow his opponent to score a single point by having a break of 96 and winning the final frame 96-0 thus he won 5-2. -Agencies