Neil Robertson and John Higgins all square, Judd Trump and David Gilbert take control

ByEurosport

Updated 30/04/2019 at 22:04 GMT

In the battle of the former world champions it is all square as Neil Robertson and John Higgins are locked at 4-4 in the quarter-finals of the World Championship.

Neil Robertson of Australia plays a shot during his second round match against Marco Fu of Chinese Hong Kong on day ten of Betfred World Championship 2017 at Crucible Theatre on April 24, 2017 in Sheffield, England.

Image credit: Getty Images

2010 champion Robertson has been the form man at Sheffield and after winning a tight opening frame he thundered in a break of 91 to double his lead.

Wtach the snooker World Championship live on Eurosport and the Eurosport Player

However four-time winner Higgins dug in and despite trailing 3-1 at the mini-interval he made sure to be level at the end of the first session.

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Both players struggled for fluency, with Robertson having issues with his cue tip, and they asked for the table to be cleaned during the game in a rare sight.

“When the cushions are playing that bad consistently you sort of lose trust in the table,” five-time champion of the world and Eurosport pundit Ronnie O’Sullivan said of the situation.

“You stop thinking about potting balls, you start thinking about is this cushion going to bounce? And then it starts to mess with your technique and timing.

“The whole point of this game is to try and synchronise the mind and the technique. When you get that right you play your best snooker but if one starts to interfere with the other you can start to see amateurish stuff, even from the top players, and that’s what you have seen today.

“Both of them will have just wanted to get out of there and hopefully get the table in better shape because as a player you don’t mind losing but if you lose because the table is really poor it’s so disappointing because it’s such a great venue and such a great tournament. It shouldn’t really happen at this tournament and if it does at least correct it ASAP.

On the main table in the evening session David Gilbert moved into pole position against Kyren Wilson as he opened up a 10-6 lead.

The pair were at 4-4 coming into the session and Gilbert picked up where he left off as he opened up with breaks of 82 and 78.

However Wilson came right back at him with a mammoth 138 break, to which Gilbert responded with a century of his own (102).

Wilson was able to get another frame but some poor errors, coupled with some excellent potting from Gilbert, saw the latter go four frames clear ahead of the final session on Wednesday.

On the other table in the afternoon a ruthless Judd Trump produced three centuries in the space of five frames as he took command of his World Championship quarter-final against Stephen Maguire in Sheffield.

Judd Trump

Image credit: PA Sport

Trump began with a clearance of 131 and added breaks of 67, 106, 78 and 101 to race into a 5-0 lead against a shell-shocked Maguire, who potted just seven balls and accrued a total of 24 points in the first five frames.

After winning the last six frames in a row to beat Ding Junhui in round two, Trump extended his unbeaten run to 12 by clearing the remaining colours when Maguire missed a tough brown to the yellow pocket in frame six.

Maguire, who had survived final-frame deciders in both the first and second rounds, finally got on the scoreboard in the next but missed another crucial brown in frame eight and Trump made the most of his chance to secure a 7-1 overnight lead.

The second session gets under way on Wednesday afternoon and Trump needs six more frames to reach the semi-finals with a session to spare.

Elsewhere in the evening Gary Wilson and two-time Crucible runner-up Ali Carter shared the session which sees the former go into the final session tomorrow leading 9-7. Trailing 5-3 Carter instantly pulled one back with a break of 102 before drawing in the tenth.

However Wilson then won three of the next four including a break of 134 before Carter squared matters by winning the final two frames of the night.

MORNING REPORT

Kyren Wilson and David Gilbert are tied at four frames apiece after the first session of the World Championship quarter-final.

After a gruelling match on Monday against Barry Hawkins - which he concluded with back-to-back centuries - Wilson began Tuesday dismally, potting the white from the break and miscueing with the rest.

And it was his opponent, the world number 16, who had the highest breaks of the match in the morning session, knocking in 68, then finishing with a flourish - a clearance of 110 to square things up.

'Stop it!' - Gilbert sinks incredible long pot

Gary Wilson reeled off five frames in succession to gain the upper hand against Ali Carter following the opening session of their World Championship quarter-final.

A total clearance of 135 had helped Carter race into a 3-0 lead and extended his streak of frames won to nine, the two-time Crucible runner-up having taken six in a row to beat Zhou Yuelong 13-9 on Monday.

However, Wilson stopped the rot with a break of 109 in the final frame before the mid-session interval and carried on where he left off after the break with contributions of 86, 134 and 55 to move 5-3 ahead.

Quarter-finals (best of 25 frames)

David Gilbert (Eng) 10-6 Kyren Wilson (Eng)
John Higgins (Sco) 4-4 Neil Robertson (Aus)
Gary Wilson (Eng) 9-7 Ali Carter (Eng)
Judd Trump 7-1 Stephen Maguire (Sco)

Second round latest scores (best of 25 frames)

Mark Williams (Wal) 9-13 David GIlbert (Eng)
Barry Hawkins (Eng) 11-13 Kyren Wilson (Eng)
John Higgins (Sco) 13-11 Stuart Bingham (Eng)
Shaun Murphy (Eng) 6-13 Neil Robertson (Aus)
Mark Selby (Eng) 10-13 Gary Wilson (Eng)
Ali Carter (Eng) 13-9 Zhou Yuelong (Chn)
Judd Trump (Eng) 13-9 Ding Junhui (Chn)
Stephen Maguire (Sco) 13-12 James Cahill (Eng)

First-round results & latest scores (best of 19 frames)

Mark Williams (Wal) 10-7 Martin Gould (Eng)
David Gilbert (Eng) 10-7 Joe Perry (Eng)
Barry Hawkins (Eng) 10-1 Li Hang (Chn)
Kyren Wilson (Eng) 10-4 Scott Donaldson (Sco)
John Higgins (Sco) 10-7 Mark Davis (Eng)
Stuart Bingham (Eng) 10-9 Graeme Dott (Sco)
Shaun Murphy (Eng) 10-0 Luo Honghao (Chn)
Neil Robertson (Aus) 10-1 Michael Georgiou (Cyp)
Mark Selby (Eng) 10-7 Zhao Xintong (Chn)
Luca Brecel (Bel) 9-10 Gary Wilson (Eng)
Jack Lisowski (Eng) 6-10 Ali Carter (Eng)
Mark Allen (NI) 7-10 Zhou Yeulong (Chn)
Judd Trump (Eng) 10-9 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Tha)
Ding Junhui (Chn) 10-7 Anthony McGill (Sco)
Stephen Maguire (Sco) 10-9 Tian Pengfei (Chn)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) 8-10 James Cahill (Eng)

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