SNOOKER: Mark Allen progresses to Welsh Open quarter-finals

Antrim star Allen held his nerve before prevailing 4-3 to book a showdown with Michael White on Friday.

Allen looked home and hosed in Thursday’s match with Hawkins after moving into a 3-1 lead at the Motorpoint Arena.

But Englishman Hawkins fought back to win the next two frames.

Allen finally won in the deciding frame to book a quarter-final date with White who beat former John Higgins 4-1 in the fourth round.

Meanwhile, Ronnie O’Sullivan eased through to the last eight as he overcame China’s Yu Delu 4-1.

Delu took the first frame as he fluked a respotted black, but O’Sullivan powered back to take victory.

O’Sullivan said on BBC Sport: “Yu Delu is a brilliant player, so I was a bit nervous at the start.

“I maybe was giving him a little bit too much respect. I lost the first frame, but got some momentum going after.”

O’Sullivan will now play world number one Mark Selby, who saw off another Welshman in former world champion Mark Williams 4-2.

Also world number three Neil Robertson saw off Marco Fu 4-2 and Ben Woollaston beat Martin Gould 4-1.