Ronnie O’Sullivan leads Ryan Day as Stephen Maguire reaches Crucible quarters

Ronnie O’Sullivan showed signs of his best form as he took a 5-3 lead on Ryan Day at the World Championship.

Both players made a number of big breaks in a high-quality first session of their last-16 clash at the Crucible.

The ‘Rocket’ got off to a flying start, hitting a 123 break in the opening frame and following up with an 84 in the second to storm ahead.

Day quickly got a foot back in the match, replying with 74 and 78 to draw level after the first four frames, but O’Sullivan recomposed himself after the mid-session interval to restore his two-frame lead with breaks of 83 and 51.

Stephen Maguire secured his spot in the quarter-finals by beating Shaun Murphy 13-9.

The rivals have feuded for two decades following an incident where Maguire was penalised a frame for forgetting his chalk and the Scotsman held off a late fightback from Murphy to seal victory.

He resumed on Sunday morning with a 10-6 overnight lead and continued his quest to reach the last eight with a break of 68 before Murphy pulled a frame back.

Maguire then moved within one frame of victory but Murphy continued to battle, a 67 break earning him the following frame before he took the first after the mid-session interval to trail by three.

However, Maguire sealed victory in style, hitting the only century of the match with a 127 to set up a quarter-final meeting with David Gilbert.

Maguire told the World Snooker Tour website: “(Murphy) looked like he was comfortable in that session, so I was starting to get geared up for a comeback and a close finish. Once I got my chance, I finished pretty well there.

“Me and Dave (Gilbert) get on and we’ve grown up with each other for the best part of 30 years. He is a great player. He’s not had a great season by his standards. I’m probably the same, so we are coming into a good game at the right time.

“The quarter-finals are the pressure matches. I’ve won a couple and lost a couple. It is a match you don’t want to lose in because that arena changes and it does become the best in the world with the one table.”

“Shaun made a mistake. He knows me well enough and I get down on myself,” Maguire said.

“He won a frame I should’ve won and I was sitting there hating myself when the fist pump came out and I thought, ‘you’re having it’ and all my attention went on that.

“It was satisfying beating a player as good as Shaun is in the last 16 of the World Championship.”

After an even start, back-to-back wins in the 11th and 12th frames put Higgins in front, but Allen then took control by winning the next four frames on the bounce – which included a 94 break – to lead by two.

Stuart Bingham fended off Jack Lisowski’s comeback to also take a 9-7 lead into Monday’s session.

Bingham extended his lead to 6-3 after taking the ninth frame, but Lisowski responded by taking the next three to claw his way back into contention.

However, Bingham finished strongly to take a two-frame advantage into the final session.