Australia’s Neil Robertson needs just three more frames to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship after maintaining command of his second-round tie with Shaun Murphy.
Robertson won the opening session 5-3 and took the second by the same margin to open up a 10-6 lead ahead of Friday’s final session at the Crucible in Sheffield.
The 2010 champion snatched the first frame of the day with a break of 67 and continued to score heavier than Murphy, who managed a highest break of 59 in the session but won two hard-fought frames to trail 8-6.
In the battle of the former champions, 2010 has a commanding lead over 2005!@nr147 takes the last two frames of the second session to carry a 10-6 advantage into the climax of his last 16 battle with Shaun Murphy. They resume at 7pm #ilovesnooker @Betfred pic.twitter.com/SdDrelMlyN — World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) April 26, 2019
Murphy, the 2005 champion, then looked set to get within a single frame for the first time since losing the opening two of the contest without potting a single ball, only to miss a difficult brown in the 15th frame.
Robertson took full advantage to clear the colours and won the final frame of the session as well to justify his position as tournament favourite following the shock defeat for five-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan at the hands of James Cahill.
Cahill was also in action on day seven and had to fight hard to stay in touch with Scotland’s Stephen Maguire, who ended their opening session with a two-frame advantage.
Aided by breaks of 67, 103, 56, 61 and 125, two-time semi-finalist Maguire led 2-0 and 5-2 but Cahill dug deep to claim the final frame on the colours and trail 5-3.
Three-time champion Mark Selby faces an uphill struggle to reach the quarter-finals after a brilliant response from second-round opponent Gary Wilson.
Selby took four of the first five frames with breaks of 64, 84, 120 and 72 to lead for the first time in the match at 7-6.
First-time seed David Gilbert is showing why his place at the Crucible was secured automatically! He's 5-3 up on the defending @Betfred World Champion overnight. Though Mark Williams overturning Gilbert leads has been known 👀 #ilovesnooker pic.twitter.com/oiuCEItVQI — World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) April 26, 2019
However, qualifier Wilson hit back with contributions of 97, 115 and 78 to take a 9-7 lead into the final session on Saturday morning and needs four more frames to pull off a famous win.
Defending champion Mark Williams also has a deficit to make up after failing 5-3 down to Dave Gilbert.
Williams made a century in the third frame and runs of 66 and 58 drew the Welshman level at 3-3, but Gilbert took the last two frames of the day to gain the upper hand.
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