Ronnie O’Sullivan battled from the edge of defeat to beat Ding Junhui in a thrilling final frame decider and kept alive his dreams of an eighth Masters title.

O’Sullivan looked to be heading out of the tournament when he trailed 5-3 with Ding on a break of 28, but a straightforward  missed red to the left centre cost the Chinese number 1 dearly.

The world champion won the frame and hauled back level before he was gifted a 6-5 victory after a rash attempt at a long brown by Ding, who won his only Masters title in 2011.

The evening session saw another enthralling match up between John Higgins and Mark Allen.

The first 6 frames were shared and both players looked in good touch. Higgins moved two frames clear with breaks of 80 and 84 to move within one frame of victory but the 2018 Master’s champion Allen showed his trademark grit and won the next two frames to force a decider. The deciding gram started nervously for both player’s but an outstanding break of 59 helped Higgins claim victory and set up a mouth watering quarter final clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan on Friday evening.

Last 16 Draw completed 

Stuart Bingham 6-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 
Shaun Murphy 6-4 Mark Williams 
Mark Selby 3-6 Stephen Maguire 
Neil Robertson 5-6 Yan Bingtao 

Joe Perry 2-6 David Gilbert 
Kyren Wilson 6-2 Gary Wilson
John Higgins 6-5 Mark Allen 
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-5 Ding Junhui