O'Sullivan to face Trump

Both players swapped centuries in the opening first two frames of the afternoon before the triple world champion reeled off three straight frames to run out a comfortable winner in Newport.

O'Sullivan will confront Trump on Friday afternoon after a seventh straight win in a ranking event. Trump routed Stuart Bingham 4-1 in under an hour to progress to the last eight.

O'Sullivan's run of outstanding form comes after his success in winning the German Masters in Berlin a fortnight ago. He is assured of his place in the sport's top 16 meaning he does not need to qualify for the World Championship in April.

Williams responded with a knock of 133 after O'Sullivan had pieced together an immaculate 125 to open with.

A 96 carried O'Sullivan 2-1 ahead before Williams's game tailed off as a modest 45 handed him a 3-1 lead. A 56 finished the match in O'Sullivan's favour after Williams had collapsed among the balls with at least four noticeable scoring opportunities.

"Mark has been very consistent over the past year, but we all have bad days," said O'Sullivan.

"I'm just trying to go out and concentrate and give it my best shot, and I'm enjoying competing. (Psychiatrist) Steve Peters has really helped me because without him I probably wouldn't be playing.

"I wasn't worried about dropping out of the top 16. No one wants to drop out, but it would have been a challenge to have to qualify for the World Championship and I was looking forward to it in some respects. I never felt as if I should be ranked 17th or 18th. I had to be patient and wait for the form to come."

His match with Trump should be another classic encounter with the Bristol player enjoying wins over O'Sullivan on his way to winning the UK Championship in December and the Masters a month ago.

Bingham compiled an opening break of 74 to win the first frame of the night, but missing a black on 33 proved costly as Trump replied with 73 to level at 1-1. Breaks of 73, 100, 49 and 31 saw Trump through in only 50 minutes.

There were wins in the last 16 for Mark Allen, who was never tested in his 4-0 win over a disappointing Stephen Hendry, while Stephen Maguire came through with a 4-2 victory over Matthew Stevens that included a knock of 111 to clinch a meeting with the world number one Mark Selby.

Selby was unconvincing despite beating Martin Gould 4-1 with a run of 61 being the highlight of his evening's work in the fourth frame of a dour contest.

Stephen Lee ran out a 4-1 winner against Tom Ford in the final last 16 match of the afternoon, aided by a run of 129 in the first frame.

Shaun Murphy v Mark Allen (1.30pm)

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Judd Trump (1.30pm)

Ding Junhui v Stephen Lee (7pm)

Stephen Maguire v Mark Selby (7pm)