Barry Hawkins’ progress at the BetVictor Welsh Open followed a fairly familiar and well-trodden path, with the Hawk happy to fly below the radar and leave most of the talking to everyone else. With a ranking title, a Crucible final and a career-high world ranking under his belt, the left-hander from Kent increasingly has very little to prove to anyone. But one of the reasons Hawkins remains popular with his peers was evident after his 5-0 win over Marco Fu in Friday night’s quarter-finals. Hawkins remained in the arena to watch stable-mate and friend Joe Perry trying to close out his win over world No2 Mark Selby, and even after being called for press duties could hardly keep his eyes off the screens during the tense final stages which were being shown in the media centre. A few minutes later there was a big joint On Q Promotions celebration, with boss Paul Mount leading the party.