Walden powers past Hendry

Defending champion Ricky Walden moved a step closer a repeat Roewe Shanghai Masters title as he stormed into the quarter-finals with a 5-1 demolition of Stephen Hendry.

The 26-year-old raced into a 4-0 lead over the veteran former world champion and although Hendry - who had already recovered from that deficit to win this week - pulled one back, Walden kept his nerve.

Walden told worldsnooker.com: "I was feeling the pressure a bit, you get a different feeling when you get near the line and you know Hendry can reel off frame after frame."

In Friday's last eight Walden will meet home hero Liang Wenbo, who produced some stunning form of his own to whitewash former World Championship finalist Ali Carter 5-0.

Ronnie O'Sullivan advanced with a controlled 5-2 win over Hong Kong's Marco Fu and will next fulfil an ambition by facing another talented Chinese player, Ding Junhui, who beat Stuart Bingham 5-2.

O'Sullivan said: "I've always wanted to play Ding in China, he's a class act and the number one player here so to play him in front of his fans will be great."

Former world champion Shaun Murphy was in stunning form as he took just 76 minutes to whitewash Jamie Cope, including breaks of 106 and 133 in the one-sided rout.

Murphy said: "Since last year's UK Championship I've been playing well. I'm playing very good snooker at the moment. Every player wants to win the tournament and that is in the back of my mind."

Next up for Murphy is Ken Doherty, who reached his first ranking quarter-final in over two years by edging Barry Hawkins in a final-frame decider courtesy of breaks of 50 and 52.

Reigning world champion John Higgins eased past Mark Williams 5-1 to set up a last eight meeting with Ryan Day, also a 5-1 winner over his fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens.