Three-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan needed less than an hour to complete a comfortable 13-6 victory over Mark Williams at the Crucible.
Resuming at 11-5 and needing just two frames to secure a last-eight spot, O'Sullivan exploded out of the blocks with a frame-winning break of 66.
Though Williams took the next frame, O'Sullivan came out on top in a scrappy 19th frame to seal the win.
O'Sullivan will play 2010 champion Neil Robertson in the last eight, while Jones will take on Judd Trump's conquerer Ali Carter.
Coming into the match, two-time champion Williams had lost all three previous World Championship meetings with O'Sullivan and not beaten the former world number one in a ranking event for a decade.
The Welshman led 3-2 in a high-quality opening session but saw O'Sullivan win the last three frames to open up a 5-3 lead.
That became nine in a row as "The Rocket" delivered a stunning passage of cue artistry with breaks of 107, 74, 51, 68, 128 and 93 amid a barrage of blistering potting.
Williams, facing the prospect of losing with a session to spare, rallied with an 86 and took the last frame to force the match into Monday.
However, it served only to delay the inevitable as O'Sullivan won two of the first three frames to wrap up a fine victory.
Williams said: "I knew it was going to be hard and I'd have to win the first four frames.
"If you give Ronnie a sniff of a chance he just knocks in 50s and 60s in a matter of a couple of minutes. It's frightening to watch.
"If Ronnie plays anything like that, there's no-one left in this competition that can give him a good run.
"Robertson is the only man [who can] but he's just so far in front of everybody else that it's frightening."
O'Sullivan agreed that Robertson would pose a big threat, adding: "I think whoever wins this championship will have to beat Neil Robertson, and I've got to play him now.
"Neil's had a brilliant season, he's won the Masters. He's a big-time player and he's proved it on the big stage."
In the evening's other match, Jones resumed with a healthy 10-6 lead over England's Higginson.
However, the Welshman could only look on as Higginson reeled off four straight frames, which included breaks of 54 and 53, to level the match at 10-10.
Jones stopped the rot with a break of 50 to retake the lead before winning the next two frames, which included a sparkling 135, to seal victory.
No comments:
Post a Comment