Aaron Hill out to avoid previous mistake on brilliant German Masters run

Aaron Hill has equalled his best ranking run (Picture: Getty Images)

Aaron Hill is into a ranking quarter-final for just the second time and feels he has learned from mistakes in his young career already.

The 22-year-old has been on a great run at the German Masters, beating three-time world champion Mark Williams in his opening round, before downing Jimmy Robertson and Tom Ford to reach the last eight.

The Irishman reached his first ever quarter-final at last season’s Wuhan Open and he is continuing his encouraging progress in Berlin.

Hill raced into a 4-0 lead over the vastly more experienced Ford before the recent Shoot Out winner won three frames on the spin, but a break of 74 gave the youngster a 5-3 win on Thursday night.

‘Just relief at the moment to get over the line,’ he said. ‘Leads are overrated, I’d rather come from behind, there’s less pressure. I’m delighted to get a good win win over Tom, such a great player, and a good friend of mine. I’m buzzing. Quarter-final, here we come.’

The Breeze is excited for a crack at Xiao Guodong in the quarters, but he is not getting ahead of himself and says he will not be allowing his head to be ‘up in the clouds’ as he has done before after some good wins.

‘It’s another game. Same preparation as I have done all week,’ he said. ‘I’m sure it’ll be another tough game, but that’s what you expect at this end of the tournament. I’m just delighted to be here now, but I’m not finished yet hopefully.

Hill is starting to fulfil his great potential (Picture: Getty Images)

‘The crowd has been amazing all week. I’d like to thank them actually because they’ve been a great support to me. Probably because I beat Mark Williams in the first round and I think they like seeing an underdog do well. Hopefully they can stay on my side for the rest of the week.

‘Shout out back home I’ve got loads of support as well, I’ve tried to stay away from my phone as much as I can to be honest because I’ve been guilty in the past of getting a good win or two and you can get your head up in the clouds a little bit. I’ll do my best to stay in the moment and keep doing my family proud.’

Judd Trump’s title defence fell at the last 16 stage (Picture: Getty Images)

Hill is part of an unexpected line-up in the last eight after world number one Judd Trump and Masters champion Shaun Murphy were beaten on Thursday night.

Neil Robertson downed defending champion Trump 5-2 while Murphy was upset by Yuan Sijun, who triumphed in a late night 5-4 victory.

World champion Kyren Wilson is still alive after his win over Jak Jones and he will take on Anthony McGill on Friday afternoon in the quarters, with Hill vs Xiao in the same session.

On Friday evening at the Tempodrom Robertson meets Yuan and Wu Yize takes on Barry Hawkins.