Rampant Ronnie O'Sullivan leads the way going into Masters quarter-finals

Aiming for his eighth Masters title, Ronnie O'Sullivan is off to the perfect start after the first round action was completed at the Alexandra Palace in London.

O'Sullivan cruised into the last eight with a whitewash win over Marco Fu, who could only manage a points total of 35 in the match.

The defending champion opened up with breaks of 120 and 121 to keep Fu in his chair and helpless in the early stages of the match. Runs of 74 and 50 gave the Rocket frame three before making his third century with a break of 112 putting him 4-0 ahead at the mid-session interval in no time at all. Further breaks of 75 in the fifth and a 53 in the sixth clinched victory and made sure O'Sullivan had a 50+ contribution in every frame of the match.

On Sunday, number two seed Mark Selby crashed out of the competition, losing 6-5 to Mark Williams. The pair met at the same stage last year with Selby winning 6-5 so the Welshman was able to return the favour. Selby certainly had his chances from 5-3 ahead to clinch victory but was unable to cross the line and like in the UK Championship, his title hopes were ended early.

Also exiting the competition was fourth seed Ding Junhui, despite making two centuries and leading the match 3-0 against Ryan Day. Ding opened up with a run of 111 and at 3-0 Day was not really in the game. That all changed though when he kept his hopes alive with a break of 79 making it 1-3. After the interval breaks of 125 and 105 soon had the match all square at 3-3, and when two tighter frames went the way of the Welshman, he was only a frame away, leading 5-3. Ding did not give up easily, making his second century to close the gap, but when Day's chance came his third century, a 115, was more than enough to secure a famous victory on his return to the competition.

UK Championship runner-up Shaun Murphy had to see off a fightback from Ali Carter to make it through to the quarter-finals. One of the form men of the season, Murphy strolled into a 4-0 lead, winning the first frame despite needing a snooker and making breaks of 119 and 87 prior to the interval. Carter took frames five and six with breaks of 99 and 110 and the high scoring continued as Murphy went 5-2 up with a break of 93. The Magician had chances again though in frames eight and nine but Carter held strong and really piled on the pressure by closing to just 4-5 adrift. There was to be no mistake when the chance came to Murphy in the tenth though and he closed out victory with a run of 76.

He will now meet Judd Trump in the quarter-finals on Friday after the former UK Champion won the battle of the left-handers against Liang Wenbo. Much like Murphy, Trump marched into a big early lead only to be pegged back impressively by his opponent. A 5-1 lead, was soon reduced to 5-4 after breaks of 58 and 51 in the seventh, a magnificent 139 in the eighth and a second century of 116 in the ninth. However, Trump's chance came in the tenth and he grabbed it with both hands, finishing off with his highest break on the night, an 85 securing his last eight spot.

Fifth seed John Higgins came from 4-2 behind to win the all-Scottish clash 6-4 against Anthony McGill. Higgins had taken the first two frames with his match high break of 89 coming in that second frame. Once McGill took a tight third he was able to settle down and marked his Masters debut with a 122 to level the scores going into the break. Runs of 61 and 76 after the interval made it four frames in a row and at this stage it looked like Higgins was in trouble. From there, McGill only scored 13 points in the next three frames as the higher ranked Scot turned the game back in his favour, and after McGill had a chance in the tenth to force the decider, Higgins was able to mop up and come through a tricky battle.

Mark Allen was in fine form with two centuries on the way to taking out debutant Luca Brecel who was not able to produce his best form on the big stage. Runs of 72 and 86 for the Northern Irishman were joined by a 135 break in frame four and a 120 in the final frame.

Barry Hawkins was the only other seed to fall, losing 6-4 to Kyren Wilson in a high quality affair. Hawkins started well with centuries in frames one and three, but he was only level at 2-2 going into the mid-session break. After Hawkins earlier 131 and 120 breaks, Wilson compiled two centuries of his own with a 109 in the fifth and a 106 in the seventh to lead 4-3. Hawkins levelled at 4-4 in one visit, but Wilson was just about the stronger of the two in the closing stages to win his first match at the Masters.


Last 16 results: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Marco Fu
Mark Allen 6-3 Luca Brecel
John Higgins 6-4 Anthony McGill
Ryan Day 6-4 Ding Junhui
Judd Trump 6-4 Liang Wenbo
Shaun Murphy 6-4 Ali Carter
Kyren Wilson 6-4 Barry Hawkins
Mark Williams 6-5 Mark Selby

Quarter-Finals: (Picks in bold)

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Allen - If the first round of the Masters could be summed up in a couple of phrases they would certainly be: heavy scoring, and with plenty of close finishes. In fact it was really only O'Sullivan, who was rampant in whitewashing Marco Fu, and Allen who came through with much to spare. With five tons between them in the twelve collective frames won in round one, these two are far from shy amongst the balls and plenty more heavy scoring can be expected in this one. Allen does have wins against O'Sullivan in the past in the World Championships and the Masters so is not afraid of defeating him on the big stage and can certainly give him a big test in this opening quarter-final. However, if O'Sullivan is close to the performance given in round one then there are not many players this week who have a chance. 

John Higgins Vs Ryan Day - Both of these two had to come from behind to make it through to the quarter-finals. Day was in the much more perilous position at 3-0 down to Ding but he knew he had what it takes to beat Ding having done it so many times before. Against Higgins he does not quite have such a favourable head-to-head record though and I expect the Scotsman to get stronger after coming through a tough all-Scottish battle in round one. Day's scoring against Ding though was incredibly impressive and if he can take his chances as clinically against Higgins then he has every chance of making back-to-back Triple Crown semi-finals. Failure to take his opportunities though will prove very costly because we all know how good the four-times World champion is at coming from behind in frames. All told I expect this to be another close contest if Day can bring his A game to the table. 

Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy - This has to be one of the greater match-ups in snooker right now with some of the past matches they have produced. Their last proper meeting was in the Hong Kong masters where Trump won 5-3. If both players come to the party then there is never very much between them, as the 13-12 Crucible classic in 2013 will testify. The pair played another belter in 2016 at the International Championship where Trump had three centuries but only just survived to win 6-5. Given the form Murphy is in we can expect a game of similar quality and there will not be much to separate the players. Both had to survive players coming back at them in round one, though I would say Murphy looked the slightly more impressive of the two, creating a string of chances against Carter, while Trump's match with Liang arguably could have gone even closer. Given the close record they have, this has all the makings of an Ally Pally classic that could go the full distance. 

Mark Williams Vs Kyren Wilson - At the bottom of the draw we find another match where it is very difficult to separate the two players. Williams played well to beat Selby, but the world number one should have beaten him given the chances he had in the final three frames. Wilson though had to withstand a barrage of scoring early from Hawkins and hit back in kind later on in the match. The most impressive thing with Wilson is his mental strength and determination an asset that will take him a very long way in the game. Wilson and Williams have really only had two meaningful meetings, both at the quarter-final stage of tournaments. The most recent in the 2017 World Open a few months ago saw Williams open up with a century before being hit by wave after wave of big breaks by Wilson that completely shut the Welshman out of the match. Wilson also won a much tighter affair 5-4 in the 2016 Northern Irish Open, a title Williams would go on to win a year later. It really is difficult to pick a winner in this one, with two very smart players who can also score very heavily. For me though, Wilson has a very bright future in these big events and it would not be surprising if he got on a run to make his third final of the season on Sunday.


Whatever the outcomes, four fascinating quarter-finals are in prospect and the event is set-up very nicely after some tight opening round matches littered with century breaks and plenty of drama which looks set to continue over the next couple of days.