Tuesday 30 April 2019 15:32, UK
Judd Trump insisted he is still "leagues" away from winning an elusive first World Championship title despite reeling off six consecutive frames to sink Ding Junhui.
Trump, who made his solitary final appearance in 2011, turned a 7-9 deficit into a 13-9 victory over the Chinese player to set up a quarter-final against Scotland's Stephen Maguire.
But the 29-year-old has been far from happy with his form in the tournament having squeezed through his first-round match against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, and believes others stand a far better chance of success.
Trump said: "I've probably been the worst player of the whole tournament so far so I knew I had to raise my game and I was prepared to go out there and fight.
"You have to look at Neil Robertson and Kyren Wilson - those two are leagues above the standard I've seen in the tournament so far, so I just have to keep competing and hope my chance will come."
After completing the job, Trump, who is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career with three titles including the Masters, relished his meeting with Maguire.
"He is a very fiery character who can intimidate you if you're not playing well," added Trump. "We've had a good few battles over the years. If I start like I have in my last two matches again, I'll be going home."
Earlier, Wilson rose to the occasion to reel off back-to-back centuries and seal a 13-11 victory over Barry Hawkins in a record-breaking second round meeting.
Breaks of 125 and 132 in the last two frames saw Wilson erase an overnight deficit of 9-7 as he took the total of tons in the match to nine - a new mark for a best-of-25 match in Sheffield.
Wilson's break in the penultimate frame saw him edge in front for the first time in a match in which he had trailed 6-1, after Hawkins scored four centuries of his own in the first session.
Wilson said: "Towards the end I reeled off the games very comfortably. I've worked really hard for this event and that's the time you rely on it and it comes out."
Ali Carter drew on his renowned fighting spirit to reel off six successive frames and turn a 9-7 overnight deficit into a 13-9 victory over fellow qualifier Zhou Yuelong.
The two-time finalist, who has twice beaten cancer and also suffers from Crohn's Disease, will next face another qualifier, Gary Wilson, in his sixth career appearance in the last eight.
Carter said: "I feel like I've swum the channel to get through that match. It's just the fight I've got in me, and if I didn't have it maybe I wouldn't be here today.
"I feel like maybe I deserve to be world champion. I've lost twice in the final to Ronnie (O'Sullivan). I'm not really bothered about the other tournaments any more - this is the only one that matters."
John Higgins booked his place in his 15th career quarter-final with title favourite Neil Robertson following an attritional 13-11 win over Stuart Bingham.
Higgins, who described a schedule which requires him to start his last-eight match on Tuesday afternoon as "bonkers" and "crazy", added: "He (Robertson) is not the tournament favourite for no reason.
"He's the type of player who will add a few more world titles to his CV I'm sure. He could be winning world titles in any era because he's that good.
"But I've put a bit of work in before coming here, so I was coming out better prepared than I have been for the rest of the season."
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