Norfolk's Jamie Chestney, who embarked on the Co-operative Funeralcare WBT International Open in Blackpool this week as an unseeded outsider, reached the quarter-finals yesterday with a dramatic 7-2 7-12 2-1 win over the number eight seed Simon Skelton, from Nottingham.

The holder of a WBT Tourcard, the 26-year-old Chestney, who now lives with his girlfriend, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Natalie Melmore, in Torquay, signalled his intention on Monday, when he took the scalp of the new world indoor singles champion, Stewart Anderson.

Although both Chestney and Skelton can be exciting players, who know how to drive as well as draw, their second round encounter was a relatively quiet affair, especially in the first set, which Chestney dominated from start to finish.

Opening the second set with a treble, the former Gallow ace looked poised to win in straight sets, but a couple of drives went against him, and he conceded two full house counts of four, before the match moved into tiebreak territory.

All three of the tiebreak ends were won with the last bowl and it was his inch-perfect drawing ability that swung things his way.

This morning, Chestney's former Gallow clubmate Mervyn King meets five-times world champion Alex Marshall for a place in the last eight. Chestney's opponent in today's quarter-finals will be Nick Brett, from the City of Ely, who beat David Gourlay 10-5 7-6.