Mark Williams races into Crucible last eight, O’Sullivan in charge against Allen

Mark Williams surged into the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship with a session to spare, wrapping up a dominant 13-3 win over his fellow Welshman and protege, Jackson Page.

The three-time Crucible champion looked close to his best form as he compiled six centuries and eight further breaks of 50-plus. Resuming on Friday with a 7-1 advantage, Williams showed no mercy to his opponent, a close friend off the table who trains at his club in Tredegar.

Opening with a break of 110 to move further in front, Williams then snatched the 10th frame with a clearance to the black after Page missed the last red, leaving him stranded on 69, the 20-year-old qualifier’s highest break of the match.

Two half-centuries in the next frame made it 10-1 for Williams, who was fulfilling his tongue-in-cheek claim that he wanted to “destroy” Page, who set up the meeting with an impressive first-round success over Barry Hawkins.

Page finally got a second frame on the board but Williams was ruthless, firing back-to-back centuries and then, after Page clawed back another frame, finishing the contest with a 56 break. Williams will face either the defending champion, Mark Selby, or Yan Bingtao in the quarter-finals; their second-round match begins on Friday afternoon.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is on course for a place in the last eight after establishing a 6-2 lead over Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen in the first session of their second-round clash.

O’Sullivan, who is seeking to equal Stephen Hendry’s record of seven Crucible titles, began by potting 10 reds and nine blacks at the start of the first frame. Despite running out of position for an attempted maximum, O’Sullivan did not let up. Allen had briefly levelled at 1-1, but breaks of 131, 69