O'Sullivan shows his class

O'Sullivan was at his brilliant best

By BBC Sport's Clive Everton in Preston

Ronnie O'Sullivan's fifth 147 in professional competition made him the first quarter-finalist in the LG Cup at the Preston Guild Hall

The maximum - he made one as a 15-year-old - helped him to a 5-1 win over Scotland's Drew Henry.

When he is firing, the 25-year-old world champion sights and strokes a ball with such finesse and flows so effortlessly from shot to shot that he can make the game look easy.

This 147 - at six minutes and 36 seconds - was the second fastest on record - only his five minutes and 20 second effort in the 1997 Embassy World Championships was quicker.

Attacks of depression can drag him down and there are players who are capable of beating him even when he is fully focused - but not many.

Drew Henry had few opportunities

That shortlist is headed by John Higgins, who already has a hat-trick of early season titles to his credit, although it is far too early to assume that O'Sullivan versus Higgins will be Sunday's final.

The best of nine fames is too much of a sprint even to assume that O'Sullivan will win his quarter-final on Friday against either Peter Ebdon or Paul Hunter who meet on Thursday.

Ebdon's 5-4 win over Anthony Hamilton on Wednesday demonstrated his mental toughness as also the qulaity of his game.

Hamilton, who had frame-winning runs of 112, 62 and 90 scored so heavily and played such tight safety in the first four frames that Ebdon had only one scoring visit, 100, in the second frame.

Ebdon made 93 to win the fifth and restricted Hunter to only 28 points in the next two frames to put him ahead 4-3.

Rare feat

Hamilton ran away with the eighth, but Ebdon made an early 48 in the decider to hang on and clinch victory in a marathon three hours and 33 minutes.

In terms of both players playing well this was the best contest of the tournament so far.

The upset of the week was the 5-4 win for 22-year-old Barry Hawkins, the world number 85 from Tatford, who won the last three frames to beat Fergal O'Brien.

In beating James Wattana 5-1, he became one of only four players to make a century break on his television debut.

Against O'Brien, he needed a snooker in the eighth to keep the match alive.

Hong Kong's Mark Fu, who overcame an off-colour Ken Doherty, 5-1, is his opponent on Thursday.

It would be incorrect to say that Mark Williams did not put a foot wrong in beating Australian number one Quinten Hann 5-4.

A badly sprained ankle meant that the 2000 world champion had to play in slippers and he was hobbling so painfully in the last frames that he came through purely on will power.

Williams could not take his natural stance for certain shots and it will not be the biggest surprise if world number 13 Dave Harold - a tough competitor in any circumstances - beat him on Thursday.

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Quarter-final draw:

R O'Sullivan v P Hunter/P Ebdon
J Swail v B Hawkins/M Fu
J Higgins/M King v G Dott/S Lee
M Williams/D Harold v S Hendry/A McManus