John Higgins beat He Guoqiang 6-0 to cruise into the last 16 of the UK Championship in York.
Fourteen years on from the most recent of three UK victories, Higgins hinted at a big run at the first Triple Crown title of the season with a display of total dominance.
His opening century might have proved the only one of the match but it helped him race into a 4-0 lead having conceded just 29 points prior to the mid-session interval.
And while he more than tripled that tally over the following two frames, both went Higgins' way as he set up a meeting with Judd Trump following his 6-3 victory over Neil Robertson.
The early exchanges of their match largely went the way of Robertson, who won their meeting at the Champion of Champions earlier this month.
After that match, Trump criticised Robertson's shot time, drastically up from his peak years, and suggested that the Australian had been fortunate to win.
Robertson's shot time was over the 30-second mark during the first four frames of the rematch but a century break in the last of them was enough to put him in command at 3-1.
However, the mid-session interval allowed Trump the chance to reset and he won every frame afterwards to win comprehensively in the end.
"It was a difficult game at the start, but I managed to turn it around and play some good stuff at the end. I played my best stuff in the last four frames and that was really pleasing," Trump told WST.
"These draws are extremely tough nowadays. A lot of the big names get through with the draw like it is and the qualifiers. Neil has a bit of a false ranking and he is going to get tough players in the first round. I've been a bit unfortunate in the past few years. In this event and the World Championship, I seem to get the 17th and 18th seed all the time. When you beat someone like that it gives you a lot of confidence.
"I've not quite hit the heights recently, but it has taken some special performances to stop me. I just need to get that bit of luck or inspiration from somewhere. When that all comes together I'm very tough to beat. That can happen at any moment and as long as I'm in the tournament that can still happen."
Of his meeting with Higgins, Trump added: "You are playing all-time greats nearly every round. It is always difficult but I have a good record against John recently. I hope I can go out there and play like I did towards the end of that game against Neil."
Zhang the maximum man
On Tuesday evening, Zhang Anda registered the sixth 147 maximum break of the season and third of his career in his clash with Lei Peifan.
Zhang had trailed 2-1 but levelled with a superb 147 which guarantees him at least a share of the Β£15,000 high break prize, with another maximum at any stage during the Triple Crown events earning him a bonus Β£147,000 payout, awarded to any player who makes two across these events and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
Since Zhang's first WST maximum in the 2022 British Open, no player on the circuit matches his tally of three 147s.
On the adjacent table, Stuart Bingham raised hopes of an astonishing double with seven reds and seven blacks, but after the eighth red went in the subsequent black rattled hard in the jaws as he fought to stay in his clash with Mark Williams.
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