MARK ALLEN reeled off five frames on the spin as he came from behind to dump out Mark Williams from the Masters.
The Pistol overcame pre-tournament illness to grab a 6-2 win in a clash between two former winners of the Ally Pally tournament.
After reaching the last eight for an 11th time, Allen said: “I felt comfortable, which is weird.
“I couldn’t prepare for this at all as I’ve been lying in bed all week with food poisoning, so I just thought, ‘Go out there and give my best’.
“I wouldn’t have had much left if it had got much closer.
“This is my 11th quarter-final, but I’ve only won it once so I have to sort that out.
“This is as good a week as any to do that.”
Allen’s break of 67 clinched the opener but 50-year-old Williams won the following two frames to take a 2-1 lead.
Northern Irishman Allen levelled going into the mid-session interval and then hit breaks of 60, 125 and 70 to triumph.
It was an error-strewn display from the Welshman with no breaks above 50 — and his pot success rate was just 71 per cent.
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He said: “I was pretty poor. It can happen and will happen more.
“I tried, even though it didn’t look like it.”
