Mark Williams was in inspired form as he defeated John Higgins 13-7 to move into the quarter-finals of the world championship at the Crucible in Sheffield. The Welshman began Saturday’s evening session leading 10-6, and quickly concluded the best-of-25 match with impressive visits of 76, 85 and 77, despite Higgins winning a solitary frame in reply. Earlier in the day, in the afternoon session, Higgins had missed the opportunity to record a second Crucible maximum in the last year as he began a comeback from 10-3 down. Williams had begun on Saturday 5-3 ahead and scored a century to open. Breaks of 63 and 80 helped him move to within three frames of victory, with Higgins facing defeat with a session to spare. The Scot responded with a brilliant break, staying on course for a 147 break until an overhit positional shot left a tricky cut on the 15th black. Higgins, who hit a maximum last August in a second-round loss to Kurt Maflin, could not make the shot but a 113 break restored his confidence, and he produced another century (107) and an 82 to cut the gap to four frames before Saturday evening’s final session. “It’s a massive victory; for me and a lot of others, John is the second-best player ever,” said Williams. “It’s a great win for me, he’s still one of the best players in the world. “Can I win it? I don’t think I can. Whoever I play is going to be favourite. I honestly don’t care who I play, I’m just enjoying myself. “I’ve never been afraid to lose. A lot of people playing are more afraid of losing than pushing to win. I’ll go out on my shield playing some of the craziest shots ever. If I think it’s the right shot, I’ll go for it. If I lose I lose, there’s no problem there. I haven’t got to win to prove anything any more, and the way I enjoy it is by going for pretty much everything. “I don’t think I’m good enough to win the tournament, but I think I’m certainly dangerous enough to beat anyone on my day.” On the other side of the arena, Neil Robertson sealed his quarter-final place with a 13-9 win over Jack Lisowski. The Australian, leading 9-7 overnight, produced breaks of 126, 87 and 70 to set up a meeting with Kyren Wilson, who came through 13-10 against Barry Hawkins. Wilson had led 9-5 but seen his opponent drag it back to 9-9 before pulling away again to reach the last eight at the Crucible for the sixth year in a row. Robertson has reached the semi-finals only once since winning his only world title in 2010 but is among the favourites this year after an excellent season. “The form and results don’t really matter – it’s all about what I do in my next match,” said Robertson afterwards. “I’ve got to forget about playing well or anything and just prepare as well as I have done.” “Jack did really well throughout the whole match,” the No 3 seed added. “Usually he loses his focus in the longer distance matches but his safety was very good and he made me work really hard. He’s a player that, out of all the other players, I really want to see do well. He’s such a nice guy and so talented.” The 39-year-old is second-favourite with bookmakers behind the world No 1, Judd Trump, after Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 13-12 defeat by Anthony McGill on Friday. Reflecting on the loss, O’Sullivan told the BBC he plans to play on for another 10 years in a bid to match Stephen Hendry’s total of seven world titles. “I’d love to play for another five to 10 years, and I would be crazy not to,” O’Sullivan said. “If I get a few results on the way, great. If not, it’s no big deal. I don’t need to prove anything. It was nice to compete even when I wasn’t firing on all cylinders. I gave it all I had. If I continue to do that, that’s the most important thing.” Shaun Murphy, meanwhile, hit a tournament-high break of 144 en route to a 6-2 lead against Yan Bingtao. The 2005 champion was in fine form throughout the opening session, though Bingtao pulled back with the last frame of the evening.