Mark Allen shrugged off a bout of food poisoning to beat Mark Williams 6-2 at the Masters and book a quarter-final clash with either Judd Trump or Ding Junhui.
Allen, the 2018 champion, had spent much of the week in bed but recovered from a 2-1 deficit to reel off five straight frames and book his place back in the last eight at Alexandra Palace. His opponent scored just 23 points in the final four frames of the encounter.
Allen showed few effects from the bout of illness, with five breaks over 50, including a 125 in the penultimate frame, to knock a third former world champion out of the tournament, following on from defeats for Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby on day one.
Later in the day, the current world champion Zhao Xintong stepped up his quest to complete the triple crown of snooker's major titles after breezing into the quarter-finals.
Zhao, who has already won the World Championship and UK titles in his short career, reeled off four consecutive half-centuries as he cruised to a 6-2 win over Gary Wilson.
