By Matthew Thomas at the Crucible
Defending World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan stormed into a 7-1 over Stuart Bingham in their quarter-final match. In his most clinical performance of the tournament so far O'Sullivan took the first seven frames before Bingham took the last.
Some of the play from 'the Rocket' bordered on the sublime at times. Breaks of 54 and 79 gave O'Sullivan the first frame, he also won a scrappy second and the next five frames were won with breaks of 111, 60, 87, 133 and 78. An overwhelmed Bingham managed to win the last but faces an uphill task to get back into the match.
After two sessions of their quarter-final match, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy are tied at 8-8. However, the Bristolian had fallen 6-2 behind after his game deserted him on Tuesday morning. Breaks of 68, 61, 82 and 76 put Murphy in a commanding position. Yet in the evening the game flipped and the world number three made 93 and 118 and managed to fight back to level the match.
The match between Ricky Walden and Michael White featured two first time Crucible quarter-finalists. And it was Walden who was quickest out of the blocks taking the first four frames with breaks of 93, 58 and 59. White staged a mini revival winning the two frames after the interval before Walden finished the session leading 6-2 after a knock of 113 in the last of the session.
Barry Hawkins ended the first day with a 9-7 advantage over China's Ding Junhui. Hawkins moved into a 2-0 lead making a break of 55 in the process. However, China's number one took the next two with breaks of 84 and 56 to level at the interval. He then moved 3-2 ahead before Hawkins took the next three to move 5-3 ahead after the morning session.
In their evening session the eight frames were shared. Ding managed breaks of 51, 76, 58 and 72 while Hawkins pitched in with 79 and 75 to lead 9-7 going into Wednesday's morning session.
Day 11 Scores
Ronnie O'Sullivan 7-1 Stuart Bingham
Judd Trump 8-8 Shaun Murphy
Ricky Walden 6-2 Michael White
Ding Junhui 7-9 Barry Hawkins
