Ding Junhui is through to the quarter-finals of the 2017 World Championship after prevailing a narrow 13-12 winner against Liang Wenbo in a Crucible classic, while John Higgins joined him in the Last Eight after seeing off Mark Allen 13-9 on Saturday.

The 2016 finalist came out on top in a thrilling contest between China's to.p two players - recovering from 10-9 and 12-11 down to force a decider, in which a break of 70 saw him over the line.

Leading 9-7 overnight, Ding was generally frozen out at the start of the final session, as Liang dominated the opening frame with runs of 45 and 58 before levelling the match with 98.

The English Open winner, who trailed 6-2 at one stage, then edged his nose in front thanks to a contribution of 61, but his opponent replied to square things up at 10-10.

Liang regained the lead with 85 while Ding had a chance at a maximum in the next and, despite breaking down on 80, it was enough to make it 11-all.

After falling 12-11 behind, the world number four then produced a magnificent clearance of 132 to force a decider, in which he pounced on a miscue from Liang with a run of 70 to eventually prevail.

“It’s quite hard to play Liang – he’s one of my best friends,” he reflected. “We just wanted to show the best snooker we could and we did.

“When it came to the decider, I thought I was going to win. I have a good record in them and had more experience.”

Ding will now play Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals, where the Rocket will be making his 18th appearance after securing a 13-7 win over Shaun Murphy.

Leading 10-6 overnight, the five-time champion wasted little time in getting the job done - making breaks of 67, 111 and 55 to put an end to the 2005 winner's hopes.

Meanwhile, Higgins set up a Last-Eight showdown with Kyren Wilson after an impressive 13-9 victory over Allen.

Trailing 5-3 overnight, the four-time champion looked purposeful from the start of the second session, as breaks of 84 and 124 saw him reel off the opening four frames for a 7-5 lead.

Allen responded with 116 and looked good to make it 7-7 after a run of 70, but Higgins cleared with 72 to snatch frame 14 on the black.

He repeated the feat at 9-8 with a brilliant 63 clearance after the Pistol had been in first with 58 before getting an untimely kick.

An animated Higgins then produced a stunning break of 120 for 11-8 and, despite the 2009 semi-finalist hitting back with 54, outscored him by 158 points to nil over the last two frames to seal the deal.

“It was an unbelievable win and I’m over-the-moon,” he said. “The match all hinged on those two clearances for 8-6 and 10-8 – the second one won me the game.”

Elsewhere, reigning champion Mark Selby established a commanding 6-2 lead over Xiao Guodong, who was making his first appearance at this stage of the tournament.

The world number one continued his title defence with breaks of 67, 58, 51 and 76 helping him establish a 5-1 advantage.

Xiao, who beat Ryan Day in round one, replied with 89 but Selby took the last frame of the session on the colours for a healthy overnight lead.

Stephen Maguire also holds a four-frame advantage by the same scoreline against Rory McLeod in the battle of the giant-killers.

Maguire, who knocked out fellow Scotsman Anthony McGill in the opening round, had runs of 67 and 71 on the way to a 5-0 advantage.

Following his shock victory over tournament favourite Judd Trump on Wednesday, McLeod rallied to reduce the deficit to 5-2, but his opponent responded with 63 to take command of the contest.