Ronnie O'Sullivan took a stranglehold on his second-round showdown with John Higgins by establishing a 6-2 lead after the first session.
O'Sullivan was on the front foot from the opening exchanges of the match and having been favourite before it began, is now long odds-on to advance to another World Championship quarter-final.
This wasn't vintage O'Sullivan but it was close enough to it for fans to start dreaming of an eighth world title, as Higgins' hopes of adding to his own collection at the age of 50 took a major hit.
O'Sullivan began the match with a break of 86 before a tight second frame saw the Class of 92 legends embroiled in several safety battles, Higgins taking it to level things up.
But O'Sullivan was already looking superior among the balls and took the ascendancy thanks to a break of 82 followed by a sublime 137 clearance.
Returning from the mid-session interval, a break of 95 kept up The Rocket's scoring run and while Higgins stopped the bleeding temporarily, by the time O'Sullivan had won the following two frames to repeat the pattern of the first four, plenty of damage had been done.
Higgins must now win 11 of a possible 17 frames to turn the match around and make the last eight and it's O'Sullivan who is in full command.
Allen finds extra to beat Wilson
Mark Allen says he's yet to get out of second gear despite a strong front-running display to beat Kyren Wilson in round two of the World Championship.
Allen took four of the final five frames to prevail 13-9 but it was a match which in the end hinged on his rip-roaring start, the Northern Irishman having raced into a 5-0 lead.
The following 17 frames were split 9-8 in Wilson's favour, but the former world champion gave himself too much to do against such a gritty operator.
Allen said afterwards that he has improvement to find when he meets either Barry Hawkins or Mark Williams in the quarter-finals, but feels confident that he'll be up to the task.
"I am happy to win," he told WST.
"Any win here is a good one and especially over someone of Kyren's class. He is world number two for a reason. The match had a bit of everything. I started well to go 5-0, but it was a little flattering," said world number 12 Allen.
"I've got lots of confidence to take into the next round. I finished that match really well. I'd love to score a little bit better. It isn't a lot of fun grinding matches out, but the biggest positive I can take is that I'm in the quarter-finals of the World Championship without getting out of second gear. There's lots more to come.
"I don't feel great in my game but I'm probably too hard on myself. If I started listening to other people like pundits and other players I think I would feel a bit better. I'm not close to my best yet but I think that is exciting as well.
"This is the World Championship. You don't expect it to be easy. The strength in depth is better than it has ever been. There are no easy matches and I don't want there to be. You want to play the best and really challenge yourself."
Wilson said: "Any loss here is disappointing. I came here to try and win the tournament. Thankfully my name is on that beautiful trophy so I have ticked that box. Any time you go out is disappointing though. It was frustrating but I gave it my all."