Mark Allen beats Robbie Williams to reach second round of World Snooker Championship at Crucible

The Antrim player had established a 7-2 lead after the first session but Williams staged a fightback and trailed 9-6 before Allen closed out victory with a break of 114.

“I always felt I had another few gears to up [in the first session] and felt I was always in control,” said Allen, who will now face John Higgins or Jamie Jones on Saturday.

“It was very scrappy today – I didn’t quite feel in control but I was happy with how I finished.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement after that. At 9-4 I felt I’d done the work but I just felt a bit flat.

“Then whenever he made a couple of breaks to make it 9-6 I switched back on and was really up for that last frame so it was a good break in the end.”

The world number three is chasing a maiden world crown in Sheffield but claims he does not feel any added pressure, despite the exit of seven seeded players already.

He added: “There’s not many upsets these days as the standard is so high.

“None of that would put pressure on me. The only pressure that’s on me is from myself and that’s always been the case. I don’t care what other people think.

“I want to be world champion and I want to be world number one. But I can’t think of that when I’m out there.

"I just have to think about the shot ahead and that's what I’ve been doing pretty well lately,” said the 38-year-old.

“I just need to continue to do that and the rest will take care of itself.”

Meanwhile, Ronnie O’Sullivan roared out of the blocks in his quest to become the first eight-time world champion in the modern era as he built an 8-1 lead over Jackson Page in the first session of their first round match.

O’Sullivan looked up for the task from the off as he fired four half-centuries plus a break of 122 in the fifth frame as he left the young Welsh qualifier next to no chance of rescuing the situation when they resume to a conclusion tomorrow.