Snooker:Mark Williams took complete control of his World Championship quarter-final clash with Antrim's Mark Allen at the Crucible in Sheffield tonight, finishing off the session with two century breaks to leave himself 11-5 ahead and just two frames away from the last four.
Williams, the 2000 and 2003 world champion, had led Allen 5-3 after their first session but stretched his lead over the Antrim cueman this evening to 11-5, finishing with a break of 127.
Allen had finished the opening session with back-to-back centuries to keep in touch with Williams at 5-3 but lost three of the opening four frames tonight and the final three to leave him in serious trouble.
Judd Trump, the 21-year-old qualifier who was rated an 80/1 chance for the title as recently as last month, is also two frames away from a place in the semi-finals as he claimed an 11-5 lead over last year’s runner-up Graeme Dott.
There was a tantrum from Scottish potter Dott tonight in the 13th frame, at 10-2 down and with his game in bits, when he played a poor positional effort and lashed out in anger on his next shot, barely connecting with the white ball.
He lost that frame, but won the next, and then remarkably went close to a 147. It would have been only the 10th maximum in Crucible history, but after potting all 15 reds, fluking the ninth, and adding the blacks, he could not get close enough to the yellow and his attempted pot was well off target. The break halted on 120.
Allen and Williams had stopped playing on the other table and were watching on as a moment of history beckoned but the maximum mission ended in disappointment.
Dott, though, was suddenly playing well and ended the session with another century, 122, to give himself a glimmer of hope for tomorrow afternoon’s final session.
Bristolian Trump, though, looked in good shape to set up a meeting with the winner of the match between Mark Selby and Ding Junhui.
Selby was favourite for the title as he headed into his quarter-final but he must come from behind tomorrow after Ding opened a 5-3 lead over the Leicester potter.
Selby had a tournament record of six centuries in his last-16 win against Stephen Hendry and began with another today against Ding, 124 in the first frame.
However Ding then strung together four in a row, featuring breaks of 58, 53, 63 and 65.
Selby made it 4-2 with runs of 51 and 87 but Ding guaranteed himself an overnight lead with 77 in frame seven. Selby finished with 74 to stay in the hunt.
Ronnie O’Sullivan hoped John Higgins would bring the best out of him and that was how it proved as their quarter-final got under way.
The experienced pair, both 35, finished level at 4-4 after an absorbing opening session, with Higgins left to regret a missed black off its spot in frame seven when he was well set to open a 5-2 lead.
Offered half a chance to win the frame, O’Sullivan took it with an exquisite 89 break and followed up by rattling in 105 to bring the session to an end. He had trailed 2-0 and 4-2 but showed resilience to fight back on each occasion.
Higgins had a total clearance of 121 in frame six, probably the easiest of his career after the balls were spread evenly around the table after a drawn-out safety battle between two players who prefer to attack.