The afternoon session at the Alexandra Palace venue was certainly the place to be for snooker fans, as the first-round match went to a deciding frame, with Mark Allen eventually prevailing over the four-time world champion.
Allen, 30, won the match with a break of 44, after a John Higgins error gave him a final chance in the 11th frame. Higgins was left to rue his missed opportunity saying after the match: "If you don't pot balls at key moments, you don't win snooker matches."
Northern Irishman Allen will now face Marco Fu or Judd Trump in his quarter final taking place on Thursday.
Perry strolls through against Bingham
The second pairing of the day was a much more one sided affair with Joe Perry dominantly moving into the quarter finals with a 6-1 victory over Stuart Bingham.
After becoming a father for the third time on Saturday perhaps former world champion Bingham had more on his mind, and this was certainly conveyed in his performance.
Bingham managed a 132 break in the third frame – the highest of the tournament so far. This came after already falling two frames behind and it didn’t get any better for the world number two as the match unfolded.
A final foul on the white ball signalled the end for Bingham who exited at the first stage of the competition. The victory for ninth seed Perry was perhaps the most dominant display so far in these first round encounters, and he will look to build on this against Ding Junhui in the last eight on Friday.
Day three of the Masters will see Judd Trump begin his journey to finally win the trophy against Marco Fu, and Neil Robertson will take on Ali Carter.