John Higgins has one foot in the Semi-Finals of the 2017 World Championship after opening up a commanding 11-5 lead against Kyren Wilson at the Crucible, while Ronnie O’Sullivan is in danger after falling 10-6 behind against Ding Junhui on Tuesday.

The four-time champion is just two frames away from a place in the Last Four of snooker’s blue-riband event for an eighth time after a dominant first two sessions against Wilson, who struggled to recover after splitting his tip with the scores at 3-3.

In a classic battle of youth against experience, the first six frames were shared before a miscue forced the Warrior into an impromptu time-out after damaging the top of his tip.

Higgins capitalised with runs of 62 and 59 for a 5-3 lead at the end of the morning session, before opening the evening with a stunning clearance of 129.

He continued to punish uncharacteristic mistakes by a struggling Wilson by winning five of the next seven frames – the highlight being a magnificent 135 total clearance – to lead 11-5 overnight.

However, five-time winner O’Sullivan has a mountain to climb after coming up against an inspired Ding on Tuesday.

Last year’s finalist came flying out of the blocks as he raced into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 71 and 128 along the way, but the Rocket fired back with four of the next five frames to level at 4-4.

Nevertheless, Ding dusted himself down ahead of the evening session and, despite being pegged back to 5-5, reeled off five consecutive frames with breaks of 64, 65, 120, 59 and 58 opening up a 10-5 cushion.

O’Sullivan responded with a quickfire break of 104 to keep his hopes alive at 10-6 behind, but has plenty to think about to remain on course for a sixth title.

Meanwhile, reigning champion Mark Selby established a healthy 6-2 overnight lead against Marco Fu, who appeared fatigued following his epic 13-11 victory over Neil Robertson on Monday evening.

Selby took advantage in a repeat of their marathon semi-final from 12 months ago. Breaks of 82, 70 and 94 saw him race into a 5-0 advantage and, although Fu stopped the rot by winning the next two, the world number one opened up a four-frame buffer going into Wednesday’s finale.

Elsewhere, 2013 finalist Barry Hawkins holds a slender 5-3 advantage over Stephen Maguire.

The Hawk, who is appearing in his fifth consecutive quarter-final, lost the opening frame after Maguire opened with 81, but won the next five with a top run of 98 along the way.

Although, back in the Last Eight for the first time since 2012, the Scotsman dug deep – sinking a magnificent black as he won the last two frames to reduce the deficit and leave the contest finely poised overnight.

Tuesday April 25

Quarter-Finals

Mark Selby 6-2 Marco Fu

Ding Junhui 10-6 Ronnie O'Sullivan

John Higgins 11-5 Kyren Wilson

Barry Hawkins 5-3 Stephen Maguire