Ronnie O'Sullivan took another step towards a record seventh UK Championship when beating Martin O'Donnell 6-1 at the Barbican Centre in York.
Barring a tense 6-5 defeat of Ken Doherty in the second round, O'Sullivan has made seamless progress through the tournament so far and enjoyed another routine victory over O'Donnell.
A fabulous break of 102 from O'Sullivan in the opening frame got the ball rolling but O'Donnell held his nerve to win a scrappy second frame and gain a foothold in the game.
However, O'Sullivan put himself back in front when stroking in a break of 79 in frame three before dominating the following frame to head to the mid-session interval 3-1 to the good.
The first action upon the resumption saw O'Sullivan continue his dominance, getting the better of a closely-contested frame, and when he added a break of 81 in the sixth, the writing was on the wall for O'Donnell.
Minutes later O'Sullivan had the match wrapped up thanks to a flawless break of 106 - his second century of the match - and he left the arena knowing he is only two matches away from a seventh UK title.
Ford books semi-finals berth
Tom Ford secured one of the biggest wins of his career when beating Joe Perry 6-2.
Perry has beaten Judd Trump in the previous round but was below par in this quarter-final clash, falling 4-0 behind at the mid-session interval.
The veteran did respond with a break of 125 in frame five but we he lost a close sixth frame - despite making a break of 58 - he had a mountain to climb.
Perry managed to keep his hopes alive when taking the seventh and reducing his arrears to 5-2 but the eighth frame was one littered with errors and Ford held his nerve to progress to the last four.
Masters champion Mark Allen will face Stuart Bingham in Saturday's other semi-final after the pair eased through their quarter-final matches.
A superb break of 122 in the third frame helped Northern Irishman Allen overcome 2004 champion Stephen Maguire 6-1.
Former world champion Bingham, meanwhile, produced knocks of 120 and 84 as he beat Kyren Wilson by the same scoreline.
Friday's results
- Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Martin O'Donnell
- Joe Perry 2-6 Tom Ford
- Stuart Bingham 6-1 Kyren Wilson
- Mark Allen 6-1 Stephen Maguire
