World Championship quarter-final predictions & snooker betting tips

Free snooker tips, best bets and analysis for the first two of the Betfred World Championship quarter-finals on Tuesday.

Where to watch

BBC & Eurosport, from 10am Tuesday

Best bets

Mark Williams to beat Yan Bingtao 10am
2pts 4-5 general

Over 20 frames in Stephen Maguire v Ronnie O'Sullivan 10am
1pt 8-11 Betfred

Yan Bingtao v Mark Williams

Head-to-head: Williams leads 4-2

Yan Bingtao did well to dash Mark Selby's hopes of a fifth Betfred World Championship triumph in a 13-10 last-16 victory, but the young pretender may find Mark Williams a tougher opponent in their quarter-final clash at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was spot-on when saying that Williams may never have played as well as he has been in the last few weeks.

And while the Welshman used to be one top player the oddsmakers could afford to take a chance with when it came to century breaks, that's most certainly not the case these days as he has been rattling them in for fun recently.

Williams tops the player tournament ton-ups chart with a whopping 196 after just two rounds in which he has contested just 29 frames in wins over compatriots and friends Michael White (10-3) and Jackson Page (13-3).

Against White he made breaks of 138, 121 (twice) and 116, then Williams followed that with runs of 127, 125, 121, 117, 110 and 100 against Page. And those Crucible efforts came roughly a week and a half after a club night in which he made nine tons in 11 frames against local players, including back-to-back 147s.

Williams leads Chinese 22-year-old Yan, who ousted Chris Wakelin 10-6 in round one, 4-2 in career meetings. But Yan's wins came in the Six Red World Championship in 2015 and last year's Championship League, which may be termed lesser events.

The three-time world champion, 47, has served it up to his young opponent in four of their last five meetings, so considering the unprecedented heavy scoring Williams has been posting he looks the bet to progress to the one-table set-up.

Stephen Maguire v Ronnie O'Sullivan

Head-to-head: O'Sullivan leads 19-4

Ronnie O'Sullivan is a warm favourite to reach the semis with a victory over Stephen Maguire, who he leads 19-4 in their personal series, but this last-eight match may not be quite as one-sided as some observers are anticipating.

The Rocket, who has played well to account for Dave Gilbert 10-5 and Mark Allen 13-4, is hoping to draw level with Stephen Hendry on seven World Championship triumphs in the coming week.

But while he is likely to prove too good for Maguire, O'Sullivan will know that there is still much to be done if he is to tie the Crucible trophy record.

And while the oddsmaker handicap consensus affords Maguire a start of 4.5 frames, the Glaswegian qualifier has posed enough problems for the Rocket down the years to think that he could keep tabs on the favourite as he has done in most of their past rumbles.

Maguire, who is five years O'Sullivan's junior at 41, has lost to the Essex legend 10-6, 10-9 and 10-7 in three previous Crucible first-round meetings. And the Glaswegian powerhouse, who saw off Shaun Murphy 10-8 and Zhao Xintong 13-9 in week one, may again make world number one O'Sullivan pull out all the stops so the bet could be to back the match to last for over 20 frames.

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