Maguire is left in shade by Trump’s towering start
● Scot trails 7-1 after opponent’s stunning run as battling Higgins matches Robertson
Judd Trump produced three centuries in five frames as he took command of his World Championship quarter-final against Scotland’s Stephen Maguire in Sheffield.
Trump began with a clearance of 131 and added breaks of 67, 106, 78 and 101 to race into a 5-0 lead against 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.
Glasgow’s 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 this afternoon and Trump needs six more frames to reach the semi-finals with a session to spare.
Four-time champion John Higgins dug deep to end the opening session of his quarterfinal against 2010 winner Neil Robertson level at 4-4.
Breaks of 58 and 91 helped Robertson to a 3-1 lead but Higgins showed typical tenacity to reduce his deficit by winning a 56-minute fifth frame.
Robertson won the next to restore his two-frame advantage, after which the cushions were cleaned following complaints from both players about inconsistent bounces. And although one such bounce saw Higgins run out of position on a break of 28, he won the seventh frame and produced his highest break of the match, 73, to claim the eighth as well. The match also resumes this afternoon.