Robertson on the rise in Sheffield

Rising Australian star Neil Robertson showed he is a real contender for the 888.com World Championship with an impressive 13-9 second-round win over Stephen Lee in Sheffield tonight.

The 24-year-old from Melbourne became the first man into the quarter-finals as he came out on top in a high-quality contest which featured five century breaks, Lee edging that statistic 3-2.

But more importantly Robertson was always ahead in the match and built his advantage to five frames before a late rally from Lee that was ultimately unsuccessful.

“It was a fantastic match – the first session was the best I’ve ever played over a five or six-frame period,” said world number 27 Robertson, who meets Graeme Dott or Nigel Bond in the last eight.

“That was a new level for me and I also played really well in the last two sessions. If I can maintain that standard I can do really well here.

“It’s a pretty proud moment for me and has made it a pretty handy season.”

Lee could not be disappointed about his break-building performance and admitted it had been the tactical side of his game that had let him down.

“My safety wasn’t good enough throughout and I paid the price,” said the Welsh Open champion. “You can’t afford to let Neil get his hand on the table.

“I played some good stuff in patches but made a mess of a few frames and he took advantage.

“He’s a good player, better than I thought, and the draw has opened up a bit for him. But I would like to see how he does with more pressure on him.”

Earlier, not even a fire scare could stop red-hot title-holder Shaun Murphy from rampaging towards the quarter-finals.

An evacuation of the Crucible Theatre three frames into the second session of his match against Steve Davis failed to halt the momentum the top seed had already built up.

Leading 6-2 overnight, Murphy went on to extend his advantage to 10-3 and after a brief revival from the six-times former champion, ended his day’s work 11-5 up having taken the concluding frame.

The afternoon action had been under way for less than an hour when tournament director Mike Ganley entered the arena to suspend play after the fire alarm had sounded in the outer areas of the venue.

Davis had just reduced his deficit to 8-3, and if anything the interruption affected him more for Murphy was straight back into his stride on the resumption after a delay of around 30 minutes.

The defending champion, who had struggled with a chest infection during his first-round win over James Wattana, produced some of the devastating potting that carried him to the crown last year.

After opening the stint with a run of 75, the Rotherham-based 23-year-old knocked in a 74 straight after the enforced break and capitalised on a series of errors from a well below-par Davis.

Murphy trounced the ’Nugget’ 13-4 when they met in the quarter-finals 12 months ago and while the 48-year-old has improved on that scoreline, his chances look to have disappeared.

Two more frames are all Murphy requires to advance when the match is completed tomorrow morning.

The disruption caused by the 999 call at the ‘888’ – it transpired there was no fire and the alarm had been triggered by a heat sensor in a kitchen – was more significant in the adjacent match.

Mark Selby, shock first-round conqueror of John Higgins, was on a break of 26 when forced to put down his cue, and while he extended the contribution to 52 he still lost the frame to Mark Williams.

That put the Welshman on the way to a 3-0 lead, but Selby dug in well to end the session trailing 5-3.