Judd Trump is through to the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions after a brilliant 6-0 whitewash of Ryan Day.
The former world champion has made no secret of his desire to win this invitation-only event, but his title bid got off to a sloppy start as David Lilley wasted chances to really trouble him in a 4-1 win for the favourite.
That earned Trump a clash with Day, himself a 4-2 winner against Stephen Maguire, and come the evening Trump had found his devastating best with a break of 104 in the opening frame an early warning shot.
Day scored 23 points over the first four frames as Trump added breaks of 67 and 68, and when the left-hander pinched a tight fifth frame, the game was up. He returned with one more half-century to seal a 6-0 win and can now prepare for Friday's semi-final.
That will be against the winner of Group 4, which is headlined by Neil Robertson and Trump's rival Kyren Wilson, but also features Mark Williams, and will be decided on Tuesday.
"You do not get many 6-0s against these top players," said Trump. "When I go 5-0 up, I always think this is too good to be true, something’s going to happen. It was very comfortable in the end. I will probably need to stay at that sort of level and standard if I am going to progress in the tournament.
"This is a really good event. You come here and know you play both games in one day. If you get through, you know you’re straight in the deep end. It’s nice to have a couple of days off, watch all the games and get some practice. It’ll be a special atmosphere for the semi-finals.
"You’re under a little pressure in the first game, you want to get through. It’s a short distance. You do not want to be going home early doors. It took me a little time to get used to the table conditions and once I got warmed up and tonight was a lot better.
"This event is special. If you look down the winners, it’s always the big names and top players who have won this. Mark Allen produced an amazing standard last year. We’ve seen some great finals with Ronnie O’Sullivan and the one with me and Neil. It’s one to try and tick off the list. It would be a real special one for me."
Monday November 15 - Group 1
Afternoon session (1300 GMT)
Group semi-finals - best of 7
Evening session (1900 GMT)
Group final - best of 11
Tuesday November 16 - Group 4
Afternoon session (1300 GMT)
Group semi-finals - best of 7
Evening session (1900 GMT)
Group final - best of 11
Wednesday November 17 - Group 2
Afternoon session (1300 GMT)
Group semi-finals - best of 7
Evening session (1900 GMT)
Group final - best of 11
Thursday November 18 - Group 3
Afternoon session (1300 GMT)
Group semi-finals - best of 7
Evening session (1900 GMT)
Group final - best of 11
Friday November 19
Evening session (1900)
Semi-final - best of 11
Saturday November 20
Evening session (1900)
Semi-final - best of 11
Sunday November 21
Afternoon session (1300)
Final - best of 19
Evening session
Final - best of 19