Ronnie O'Sullivan celebrated his 43rd birthday in style as he rattled off a 6-1 victory over Jack Lisowski in the last 16 of the UK Championship in York.
The Rocket stuck in two centuries as he won six frames on the spin after losing the opener to power into the last eight at the Barbican Centre in York.
On the day of his 43rd birthday, O'Sullivan lost the opening frame of the match but then responded in typical fashion with a break of 88 levelling the contest right away.
Three more frames followed as he capped his run with a break of 118 - taking his tally of centuries up to 981 as he closes in on that magical 1,000 mark.
981 quickly became 982 as O'Sullivan stuck in a 112 break to move to the brink of victory, with Lisowski unable to even pot a ball in the sixth frame.
Stephen Maguire staged a stunning comeback from 4-0 down to edge out world champion Mark Williams 6-5.
"That's the best comeback I've ever made." 💬
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) December 5, 2018
Maguire is through to the quarter finals of the @betway UK Championship, after a sensational fightback to beat Williams 6-5! #baizeofglory pic.twitter.com/Gkz0N3zF1S
The world number 15 looked down and out when Williams raced into a big lead, but responded with three successive centuries as he pulled back into contention.
A further break of 97 put Maguire in front for the first time and despite missing a simple yellow for the match in frame 10, he held his nerve to edge over the line.
"That's the best comeback I've ever made," said Maguire. "At the interval I told my dad to get the car ready and we could be back in Glasgow by 7.30. I just decided to pull the cue back and hope for the best."
Mark Allen pulled out successive centuries to edge past two-time winner Neil Robertson 6-5 and book his place in the quarter-finals.
Allen let slip a 3-1 lead to trail 4-3 and when he blew a 59-point lead to go 5-4 behind he seemed set for the exit.
But Allen responded with back-to-back breaks of 102 and 114 to wrap up victory in style.
Wednesday December 5 results
Afternoon session (1300 GMT)
- Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Jack Lisowski
- Stephen Maguire 6-5 Mark Williams
Evening session (1900 GMT)
- Lu Ning 5-6 Tom Ford
- Mark Allen 6-5 Neil Robertson
