Mark Williams became the latest big name to crash out of the Welsh Open when Dominic Dale sprung a huge surprise in Cardiff tonight.

Dale came from 3-1 down to beat his fellow Welshman 5-3 and reach the quarter-finals. World number one Williams becomes the fifth member of the game's top eight to be dumped out following the exits of Peter Ebdon, John Higgins and Ken Doherty earlier in the day.

But the world champion had no complaints as Dale beat him for the first time in nine career meetings.

Williams said: "I played okay at the start of the match but Dominic came back well after the interval.

"I missed a few easy balls and had a couple of bad contacts but Dom looked good towards the end."

Dale, the world number 28, constructed breaks of 66, 54, 63 and 42 in winning the last four frames to reach his first ranking event quarter-final since the 2000 Embassy World Championship.

The victor said: "I'd never beaten Mark but what's happened before is all history.

"You can't take that into a match because you're at a disadvantage right from the start.

"I've practised a couple of times with Mark and I know I can compete with him. "Everyone was expecting him to win so he was under pressure."

Dale has done little of note since winning the Grand Prix as a rank outsider in 1997.

In last November's Travis Perkins UK Championship, he was beaten 9-7 from 7-1 up by Alan McManus, who he now faces for a semi-final place.

He added: "That will be interesting - the thing I'll take into the match is that from 0-0 I won seven of the next eight frames, so I know I can play well against him."

Doherty, the world number six and twice a champion in Wales,l continued from back page was beaten 5-1 by Hong Kong's Marco Fu.

From 1-1, Fu, a semi-finalist last year, made breaks of 52, 96, 62 and 56 to set up a quarter-final meeting with defending champion Stephen Hendry.

Paul Hunter, champion in 1998 and 2002, raced into the quarter-finals with a 5-0 whitewash of Nottingham's Anthony Hamilton.

The world number eight made breaks of 98 and 68 as he completed his whitewash in only 92 minutes. Hunter now faces Ronnie O'Sullivan, who beat Joe Perry 5-2, for a semi-final place.

The Yorkshireman said: "I've got a decent record against Ronnie and he'll be up for it - so I can't wait."