Robertson dominates Davis

Steve Davis gave the Crucible crowd a classic century to savour but was heading for a heavy defeat as Neil Robertson closed in on the semi-finals.

Prospects of the veteran making further progress in the Betfred.com World Championship were ebbing away as Robertson swept into a 10-2 lead at the mid-session interval.

It was a familiar scoreline for Davis against the Melbourne potter, who thrashed him by the same margin in the first round last year.

With four frames remaining of the night's play, the Australian was three away from winning with a session to spare, which would equate to a humiliation. Davis has the consolation of having comfortably exceeded expectations, his own included, and after a barren season he has made a couple of centuries in Sheffield.

There was a treat for his legions of followers as he gunned in a break of 128 to win frame 11, the third of the session.

It was classic Davis, reminiscent of the form which saw him dominate the World Championship through the 1980s. But it could not last. The 52-year-old world number 23 was unable to muster any of the consistency he showed when knocking out last year's champion John Higgins in the second round.

Earlier Mark Selby had let Ronnie O'Sullivan off the hook as an intriguing first session between two of snooker's most potent potters finished all square.

The quarter-final was expected to be a thriller following the superb Masters final which the pair contested in January, but it did not begin in the manner of that Wembley match, which Selby won 10-9 from 9-6 down.

O'Sullivan had been majestic in the concluding session to his match against Mark Williams on Monday, making three centuries and giving the impression he was finally enjoying his stay in Sheffield, only to then offer a depressing assessment of his chances.

O'Sullivan finished off with a break of 81 to draw level at 4-4, but his potting was as unpredictable as his behaviour, and Selby was also far from his best.