MARK Allen continues to enjoy his best season as a professional as he reached Friday's quarter-finals of the Betvictor Welsh Open in Llandudno.
The world number three, winner three times already this season and runner-up in the British Open, will face Robert Milkins over the best of nine after beating Andy Hicks (4-1) and Luca Brecel (4-2) on Thursday. Milkins, meanwhile, was a 4-1 winner over Iran's Hossein Vafaei.
Shaun Murphy produced a magical 147 clearance as he ended the run of amateur Daniel Wells to set up a quarter-final against China's Yuan SiJun, who beat Jack Lisowski 4-1.
Earlier in the afternoon session, Welshman Wells - who dropped out of the professional ranks in 2021 and went to work for his mum's cleaning business - had pulled off a shock 4-2 victory over world number five Judd Trump.
Murphy, though, was in no mood to become another scalp as 'The Magician' followed a clearance of 145 in the second frame with a maximum in the next, the seventh of his career.
Although Wells regrouped to get a frame on the board, another 78 break from Murphy, who earlier had taken his personal century tally past 600, secured an impressive 4-1 win and a place in the last eight.
Joe O'Connor made it to the quarter-finals after he coasted past Robbie Williams without dropping a frame. He will play Pang Junxu, while Ronnie O'Sullivan also progressed with a 4-0 win over Ben Mertens.
