An "ill" Ronnie O'Sullivan told BBC Sport he was "glad to be out" of the Masters after being thrashed by Mark Allen in the quarter-finals of the competition.

A taste of his own medicine

Yet the defending champion showed no signs of the illness affecting his game as he left Marco Fu sitting in his chair for the majority of their first round contest. The Rocket put together an incredible sequence of breaks as he made 120, 121, 74, 50, 112, 75 and 53 in successive frames on his way to a 6-0 win. Fu made just five points in the first four frames and a mere 35 overall.

O'Sullivan appeared to be taking that momentum into his contest with Allen as he opened the match with a break of 75. However, he was only able to manufacture another 53 points with the majority of those coming in the final frame. Allen hit 65, 115, 85 and 81 as strolled to a 6-1 victory.

6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

John Higgins recovered from going 4-2 behind against compatriot Anthony McGill to reach the final eight. Higgins took the opening two frames before McGill made a 122, 61 and 76 on his way to a clear advantage. Yet Higgins was able to lean on his experience to dig out four consecutive half-century breaks on his way to a 6-4 victory.

After Ding Junhui and Mark Selby were dismissed in their opening matches, Judd Trump was left as the highest-ranked player in the competition. He looked comfortable when he opened up a 5-1 lead against Liang Wenbo with four half-centuries. Yet two breaks over 50 and a 139 and 116 took Liang within one frame of Trump, only for the number three seed to secure victory with an 85 formulation in frame ten.

Trump faces Shaun Murphy in an exciting clash on Friday as the former World champion held off a mini rejuvenation by Ali Carter. Murphy went 4-0 ahead only to be pegged back to 5-4 as Carter hit three breaks over 90. Yet Murphy hauled himself over the line to reach the final eight.

Kyren Wilson completed the quarter-final line-up after a tight game with Barry Hawkins. The pair exchanged two centuries apiece and were level at 4-4 before Wilson pulled away in frames nine and ten to also win 6-4.

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