ANTHONY McGill will face Stuart Bingham for a place in the Betfred World Snooker Championship semi-finals after the Englishman breezed to second-round victory in Sheffield.
Bingham became world champion in 2015 but is back in the quarter-finals for the first time since lifting the trophy after downing Welshman Jamie Jones 13-6 at the Crucible Theatre.
A tough test against McGill now lies in wait after the Scot got the better of Ronnie O’Sullivan in a thrilling final-frame decider before the weekend.
But Bingham is riding his own crest of a wave, feeling the benefits of having to come through a gruelling qualifying campaign just to reach the tournament’s main stages.
“Anthony is playing well, I caught the last couple of frames of his match with Ronnie and the way he finished that game shows what a class act he is,” he said.
“Especially after what happened last year, it shows he’s mentally strong. I’m expecting a tough game and know I’ll have to be on my game to win.
“You can’t look past each match, that’s my focus for the next two days.
“Anthony is very composed and plays his own game – when you’re in a position where you’re happy to do that, you become very hard to beat.
“You can’t get under their skin, you can’t rattle them.
“You don’t get any easy games here, so if you’re a little bit off your game then you get beat. It’s a tough game now.
“Qualifying has given me a bit of confidence coming in, I knew I was sharp and it showed straight away.”
The two last faced off in a Triple Crown event some eight years ago, with McGill on the end of a 6-2 loss in the UK Championship.
But the Scotsman has come on leaps and bounds ever since, with this Crucible performance following up the heroic run to the semi-finals last year.
Repeating the trick and getting to the one-table setup is not out of the question, with he and Bingham playing their first two sessions on Tuesday before the game concludes on Wednesday afternoon.
Another man into the quarter-finals is Judd Trump, with the 2019 world champion holding off a strong challenge from former semi-finalist David Gilbert to win 13-8.
A match-up with Shaun Murphy, victor in 2005, now awaits for Trump, who still feels he has yet to reach his peak in Sheffield.
“I think everyone feels like the favourite in themselves. Everyone is playing well in their own way, I haven’t played my absolute best and hopefully saving the best for the latter stages,” he said.
“You’ve got Mark Selby, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson taking the headlines at the moment.
“I’m quite happy to have not played near my best but to have got through the first couple of rounds quite comfortably.
“I think everyone is quite confident they’ve got a good chance in this competition.”
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