Ding Junhui ousts John Higgins with Stuart Bingham also into last eight

In Saturday morning's other session, Northern Ireland's Mark Allen leads 2013 finalist Barry Hawkins 9-7. They play to a finish when they resume at 7pm on Saturday evening.

Higgins had sparked hopes of a genuine title challenge as he produced blistering snooker in the first session to lead 5-1 in the early stages of the match, but the Chinese star had found his rhythm and levelled the match before eking out a 9-7 lead going into Saturday morning's conclusion with his opponents missing a series of balls at key moments.

Ding then appeared to have picked up where he left off, winning the first two frames of the session to lead 11-7.

Higgins hit back with a 94 to steady things, but then missed a chance to make it 11-9 as he blew an early lead and let Ding in for a break of 89 to move within one frame of the next round.

Higgins once again responded, stealing frame 21 by a score of 74-60 as Ding faltered.

But the next frame proved a scrappy affair that the Chinese star came out on top of to earn a quarter-final against either Marco Fu or Judd Trump.

“Hopefully I’m going to win the tournament,” said Ding.

“I believe I can win any tournament, it just takes time. I’m playing well, I keep scoring heavily and I’m winning some of the big frames.

"When I was 5-1 down I just thought about getting one frame back at a time. It’s a long match and I can’t fully focus in every frame, every ball, but I played a lot of great frames.

“It’s always a big victory to win against John, it’s not easy to play him in such a long match – you need to keep up your performance all the way until the match finishes.

"Even in the last frame he still had chances. I don’t mind who I play next.”

Higgins was sanguine after his defeat, and admitted that he would love to see Ding in the final - and hopefully against the sensation of the tournament so far, Anthony McGill.

"I said to him [Ding] I hope he plays Ants [McGill] in the final," Higgins told the BBC.

"Ants has been brilliant and I think he's got a new army of fans." He added: "He [Ding] made a couple of pressure clearances which means he's probably ready to win the world title...my concentration in the last session was very poor. I felt good when I got in the balls, but I kept missing on 40 or 50 and I ended up losing those frames, and you just can’t afford to do that against the top boys.”

Higgins added that he felt he'd had a great chance, but lost to a superb player.

"I let him off the hook when I was 5-1 in front. From then on he was clinical, he never let his head drop and he played good stuff," he told worldsnooker.com.

"He reminds you of Steve Davis in his prime, with his cue ball control. He makes everything look ridiculously easy and he made a couple of pressure clearances, which probably means he’s ready to win the world title.

"I hope he plays Anthony McGill in the final, obviously I’d be rooting for Ants to win, but otherwise I’d love to see Ding win it.

"He seems in a better frame of mind, as if he’s ready to tough it out. His all-round game and safety play are top notch as well.

"He has grown-up, he’s smiling more, he’s more at ease within himself, he’s a big, big danger to win this tournament."

Higgins added that he believes McGill is also a huge factor in the tournament.

"He's been a credit to himself," he told the BBC. "He's a cracking boy and he probably won't let it get to him.

"He's got a big chance in this tournament if he keeps playing as he did against Selby and Stephen Maguire.

"He's loving it and fair play to him. He's living the dream.

"We all knew he was a great player coming through as a boy and he's carrying that through. He's grown in stature every match and he's not going to be an easy game for anybody."

Stuart Bingham joined Ding in the last eight after he completed a 13-5 win over 2006 world champion Graeme Dott, who ran out of steam having been forced to win 40 frames to come through three qualifying rounds and the first round to reach the last 16.

Basildon potter Bingham could face five-times champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last eight if he overcomes Matthew Stevens in the last 16. They start out tonight.

Interestingly enough, O'Sullivan beat Bingham in the quarter-finals and Stevens in the last four in winning his fourth title at the Crucible in 2012.

Mark Selby (Eng) 9-13 Anthony McGill (Sco)

Joe Perry (Eng) v Shaun Murphy (Eng)

Barry Hawkins (Eng) 7-9 Mark Allen (NI)

Ali Carter (Eng) 2-6 Neil Robertson (Aus)

Ding Junhui (Chn) 13-9 John Higgins (Sco)

Marco Fu (HK) v Judd Trump (Eng)

Graeme Dott (Sco) 5-13 Stuart Bingham (Eng)

Matthew Stevens (Wal) v Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng)

Anthony McGill (Sco) v Joe Perry (Eng) or Shaun Murphy (Eng)

Barry Hawkins (Eng) or Mark Allen (NI) v Ali Carter (Eng) or Neil Robertson (Aus)

Ding Junhui (Chn) v Marco Fu (HK) or Judd Trump (Eng)

Stuart Bingham (Eng) v Matthew Stevens (Wal) or Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng)