A ruthless Judd Trump produced three centuries in the space of 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 lead Kyren Wilson 10-6, while Ali Carter fought back to trail Gary Wilson 9-7 as they battle it out for a place in the last four.
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.
It's been a good day's work for @judd147t 👊 Maguire barely had a chance in the first five frames, as the Ace in the Pack knocked in sublime breaks of 131, 67, 106, 78 and 101. 🔥 He takes an emphatic 7-1 lead heading into tomorrow afternoon's session #ilovesnooker @Betfred pic.twitter.com/TzOPhtQCHK — World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) April 30, 2019
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.
Gary Wilson, meanwhile, continued to try to keep Carter at a distance in the evening session, having resumed 7-5 ahead at the mid-session interval following a second match break of 134.
Carter, a two-time Crucible runner-up, took the next frame with a break of 102 and clawed another back in the 10th to level things up.
Wilson, though, regained his composure to edge back in front, and a fine 134 clearance opened up the gap again, before Carter claimed a crucial last frame of the evening session to trail by just two.
A monumental frame. David Gilbert takes the 16th with a break of 60 to lead Kyren Wilson 10-6 overnight! Three frames from his biggest pay cheque – £100k 🤲 #ilovesnooker @Betfred pic.twitter.com/QhZZT2ON3i — World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) April 30, 2019
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 defending champion Mark Williams.
The match produced just three century breaks, Wilson making 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 maintain momentum heading into Wednesday's conclusion.
In the remaining quarter-final, four-time champion John Higgins dug deep to end the opening session level at 4-4 against 2010 winner 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.
And 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.
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