Ronnie O'Sullivan has booked his place in the quarter-finals of the Masters with a 6-1 victory over Luca Brecel.
Having watched Neil Robertson and Mark Selby, the first and third seeds, bowed out of the tournament on Sunday, O'Sullivan is now the clear favourite to prevail at the Alexandra Palace.
The seven-time champion was able to produce one of his most clinical performances for some time, recording two centuries as he outclassed his Belgian opponent.
O'Sullivan coasted into a 3-0 lead, hitting a 104 break in the process, and it took a century from Brecel to stop the rot and keep himself competitive in the contest.
However, after the interval, O'Sullivan fired in a break of 134, the highest of the tournament so far, and the 47-year-old wasted little time in sealing a dominant win by taking the final two frames.
O'Sullivan will now face either Mark Williams or David Gilbert in the last eight, with one of Hossein Vafaei, John Higgins or Jack Lisowski awaiting him in the last four if he can come through his next outing later in the week.
Darren Plant
