A ruthless Judd Trump produced three centuries in five frames as he took command of his world championship quarter-final against Stephen Maguire in Sheffield.
Tuesday’s evening sessions at the Crucible saw David Gilbert take a 10-6 lead over Kyren Wilson while Ali Carter fought back to trail Gary Wilson 9-7 in their battle for a semi-final place.
Earlier, Trump had begun with a clearance of 131 and added breaks of 67, 106, 78 and 101 to race into a 5-0 lead against a shell-shocked Maguire, who potted just seven balls in the first five frames.
Trump began with a clearance of 131 and added breaks of 67, 106, 78 and 101 to race into a 5-0 lead against a shell-shocked Maguire, who potted only seven balls and accrued a total of 24 points in the first five frames.
After winning the last six frames in a row to beat Ding Junhui in round two, Trump extended his unbeaten run to 12 by clearing the remaining colours when Maguire missed a tough brown to the yellow pocket in frame six.
Maguire, who had survived final-frame deciders in both the first and second rounds, finally got on the scoreboard in the next but missed another crucial brown in frame eight and Trump made the most of his chance to secure a 7-1 overnight lead.
The second session gets under way on Wednesday afternoon and Trump needs six more frames to reach the semi-finals with a session to spare.
World No 32 Gary Wilson moved 7-5 ahead of Carter at the mid-session interval following a break of 134. Carter, a two-time Crucible runner-up, took the next frame with a break of 102 and clawed another back to level things up. Wilson regained his composure to edge back in front, another 134 clearance opening the gap again, before Carter claimed the last frame of the session to trail by just two.
On the other table Kyren Wilson, a 13-11 winner over Barry Hawkins in the second round, needed to dig deep to keep in touch with Gilbert, who knocked out the defending champion Mark Williams.
Wilson, the world No 8, made a clearance of 138 to take the 11th frame – only for Gilbert to respond with 102 before further runs of 72, 58 and 60 over the closing three frames saw him move four frames clear. The 37 year-old, playing in his first Crucible quarter-final, needs three more frames to reach the semis.
In the other quarter-final, four-time champion John Higgins dug deep to end the opening session level at 4-4 against the 2010 winner and tournament favourite, Neil Robertson.
Breaks of 58 and 91 helped Robertson into a 3-1 lead, but Higgins displayed his characteristic tenacity to reduce his deficit by winning a 56-minute fifth frame. Robertson won the next to restore his two-frame advantage, after which the cushions were cleaned following complaints from both players about some inconsistent bounces.
Although one such bounce saw Higgins run out of position on a break of 28, he won the seventh frame and produced his highest break of the match, 73, to claim the eighth as well.
