Ronnie O’Sullivan moved one step closer to a record-extending eighth UK Championship title with a 6-0 demolition of Zhou Yuelong in York.
O’Sullivan didn’t have to break sweat to ease past Matthew Stevens in round one and Zhou give him nothing to worry about in this last-16 clash, making a host of unforced errors early in the match to allow his opponent to race into a 2-0 lead.
Zhou’s afternoon was summed up by an atrocious safety shot in frame two when missing the pack of reds completely and crashing into the black, gifting O’Sullivan another glorious opening.
In truth, O’Sullivan didn’t need to play well in those opening two frames, but he burst into life with compiling a brilliant total clearance of 137 in the third frame, before another miss from Zhou left O’Sullivan in to extend his lead to 4-0.
At that stage, Zhou had only potted two balls in the whole match, and he was dealt a cruel blow in the first frame after the mid-session interval.
Zhou looked sure to register his first frame of the afternoon when putting together a run of 63, but an inexplicable miss to the centre pocket proved decisive as O'Sullivan countered with a clearance of 82 to move within touching distance of victory.
That victory was quickly wrapped up as O'Sullivan stroked in a break of 103 – his second century of the match – to set up a meeting with Ding Junhui or Jamie Clarke.
O'Sullivan told the BBC afterwards: "I treat every match the same, but my bad is better than everyone else's bad at the moment.
"I’m enjoying myself everywhere I go, I’m having a great time. I just don’t enjoy it when I’m not playing great but I just have to suck it up. It’s part and parcel of the game.
"If my bad is better than everyone else’s bad then I have to take that, but I’m never far away from playing well. You never know.
"I only played well once last season [at the Tour Championship], but sometimes the other guy plays better and Neil [Robertson] played really well there."
On the prospect of facing Ding next, O'Sullivan added: "Ding's a class act – absolutely. Different class, amazing player, brilliant. I don't care who I play."
Brecel sent packing by Ford; Allen through
Last year's runner-up Luca Brecel was dumped out by Tom Ford, losing 6-3.
Ford reached the semi-finals of this event in 2018 and is enjoying another strong run in York, helped by this resilient display.
Ford could have been forgiven for losing his focus having watched his 2-0 lead pegged back to 2-2, losing closely-contested third and fourth frames.
However, he dominated proceedings after the mid-session interval and produced a break of exactly 100 in frame seven on the way to a significant victory.
In the big evening session match, Mark Allen came from 2-0 down to beat Kyren Wilson 6-3 thanks to six breaks of over 50.
Allen said afterwards: "I had a slow start and gifted the first two frames to Kyren. At 2-2 I felt very relaxed because I felt I had broken the back of the match.
"After the interval my safety was good and I potted a few long ones.
"I have never been one to look at draws or think about who’s still in it.
"Sam Craigie might be a bit further down the rankings but he thoroughly deserves to be here because he has had two cracking wins.
"It will be a big match for both of us on Friday."
That means Allen will face Craigie in the quarter-finals, the latter having got the better of British Open hero Ryan Day, winning 6-4.
UK Championship: Daily schedule and results
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Wednesday November 16
Afternoon Session (1300 GMT)
TV Coverage: BBC/Eurosport
Second Round (Best of 11 frames)
- (11) Luca Brecel 3-6 Tom Ford
- Zhou Yuelong 0-6 (2) Ronnie O'Sullivan
Evening Session (1900 GMT)
TV Coverage: BBC/Eurosport
Second Round (Best of 11 frames)
- Sam Craigie 6-4 (16) Ryan Day
- (9) Mark Allen 6-3 (8) Kyren Wilson