England’s David Gilbert advanced to the last 16 of the Gibraltar Open on Saturday and, in doing so, moved closer to qualifying for next week’s Tour Championship.

The 37-year-old has now won his first three matches in Gibraltar but needs to make the final this week to climb into the top eight in the one-year rankings.

A win would allow him to compete in Llandudno, with the tournament running from March 19 to 24. If he fails to do so then Stuart Bingham and Kyren Wilson will both be heading for North Wales.

Gilbert started the tournament with a victory over Spanish amateur David Alcaide Bermudez, before he then went on to beat Northern Ireland’s Joe Swail.

Scores of 4-1 and 4-2 gave him plenty of confidence for round three, where he beat Pakistan’s Hamza Akbar 4-2.

He will now take on Wales’ Daniel Wells for a place in the final eight. Englishman Wilson is also through after proving too much for Scotland’s Ross Muir thanks to a 4-1 success.

Bingham also advanced after he came from 2-0 and 3-2 down to beat Eden Sharav from Israel.

Defending champion Ryan Day saw off Elliot Slessor 4-3, while Ireland’s Ken Doherty was knocked out of the competition by Gary Wilson.

Robert Milkins, Andrew Higginson and Tian Pengfei also reached the last 16 thanks to victories over Ben Woollaston, Andy Lee and Liam Highfield respectively.

The world ranking event finishes on Sunday evening with the winner set to earn £25,000.