O'Sullivan in command

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O'Sullivan looked certain for a massive payday after his 147 maximum break on Monday, only to see Ali Carter also make a perfect clearance on Tuesday to earn half of the money.

But the Rocket at least remains favourite for the £250,000 on offer to the tournament winner as he raced into an 11-5 lead over China's Liang Wenbo in the quarter-finals at the Crucible.

Resuming at 4-4, O'Sullivan rattled in breaks of 76, 67, 56, 57, 138 and 86 to take command of the match and needs just three more to book his place in the last four and a likely clash with Stephen Hendry.

Liang finally stopped the rot after losing seven frames in a row with a break of 41, but O'Sullivan quickly wrapped up the final frame of the session and needs just two more frames from a possible nine on Wednesday evening to advance to the last four.

Hendry has an 11-5 advantage over Wales' Ryan Day and needs just two more frames for victory.

Carter was also back in action on Wednesday and resumed with a 9-7 lead over former champion Peter Ebdon. A break of 59 gave Ebdon the first frame but Carter hit back to take the next for a 10-8 lead.

Carter never threatened to repeat his heroics from Tuesday evening but won the next two scrappy frames as well to move within a frame of a first Crucible semi-final.