John Higgins cruised into the quarters of the China Open and has been joined by Mark Williams, Nigel Bond and Stephen Maguire.
Scot joined in quarter-finals by Williams, Bond and Maguire
World number one John Higgins became the first man to book his place in the quarter-finals of the China Open and has been joined in the last eight by Mark Williams, Nigel Bond and Stephen Maguire.
Higgins, who was given scare before edging past Joe Swail earlier in the week, enjoyed a much more comfortable passage this time around as he demolished Mark King 5-1.
After Higgins had taken the opening frame with a break of 88, King levelled with a fluent contribution of 62, but from that point on it was one-way traffic.
The Wizard of Wishaw went on to add further breaks of 50, 71, 62, 39 and a slick 116 in the final frame to close out a comprehensive victory.
"I finished the match well," stated Higgins. "I gave Mark a lot of chances early on so I'm pleased to win.
"My match with Joe (Swail) was bad but I got some confidence from making a good break in the last frame.
"I gave Mark some chances and he didn't take them. My next opponent is sure to take them so I will have to play better."
The world champion will now face either Mark Selby or Marco Fu who contest their last-16 match on Thursday.
"Whether it's Mark or Marco, it's going to be a really tough match for me," added Higgins. "But if I win it will be great for my confidence going to the World Championship next month, especially because both of them have beaten me already this season."
Williams runs hot to defeat Ebdon
Williams looked like being involved in a tight contest with Peter Ebdon with the duo locked at 2-2 by the interval of their clash.
However, on the resumption the Welshman rattled off three frames on the trot to ease through.
Indeed, Edbdon had initially gone two up, but Williams made it five straight frames to set up a meeting with either Ken Doherty or Ryan Day.
Maguire fought back from a frame down to beat Barry Hawkins 5-2, the Scot chipping in with breaks of 71, 46, 85 and 75.
Maguire will now lock horns with Bond who thrashed Barry Pinches 5-1 courtesy of breaks of 104, 47, 100, 49 and 70.
