| HAZEL IRVINE ON SNOOKER'S GRAND PRIX It's a good time for snooker, you can see before your very eyes a new establishment of top-class players emerging.
Of course the old guard like Peter Ebdon, Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty are still going strong and are not being usurped just yet.
But it is fair to say they are hanging on and it is taking all of their craft and skill to do so. They are having to change the way they play a bit as the new breed are snapping at their heels.
One man who has repelled the up-and -coming players is John Higgins and he has managed it through sheer nous and tactical brilliance.
And without question he is the man to beat here in Glasgow.
In his quarter-final he faces one of the new breed in Mark Allen, his opponent in the World Championship semi-final at the Crucible this year.
He is a young man in a big hurry and it will be interesting to see how he copes with a partisan crowd behind Higgins.
It is great to see the renaissance of Ebdon.
His concentration levels are approaching what they were 18 months ago following the torrid time he has had due to the break up of his marriage.
His opponent Ding Junhui has also got his head screwed on again, he has hardened up after a bad patch and it was almost as if he had to go backwards to go forwards.
Mark Williams admitted that he has never played as badly before and won in beating Stephen Hendry, so he is going to have to up his game against in-form Robert Milkins.
There were collective groans from both parties as big mates Joe Perry and Neil Robertson returned from a meal out together last night to discover they will face each other in the last quarter-final.
It's going to be an interesting climax.
Hazel
Hazel presents coverage of the Grand Prix snooker on BBC TV
Hazel was talking to Paul Birch
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