O'Sullivan is the oldest player on show in China
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World champion and world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan moved into the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters in China by defeating Mark Williams 5-3.
He will play Stephen Maguire in the semi-finals on Saturday after the Scot saw off the challenge of Ryan Day 5-4.
"I'm the oldest player in the tournament and there are many young and hungry players who can pot better than me," said O'Sullivan.
"But my break-building's there and if I get momentum I can be tough to beat."
O'Sullivan started brightly with breaks of 93 and 87 for a 2-0 lead, before Williams rallied with a run of 45 to reduce the arrears.
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He's probably the best player ever
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But O'Sullivan, who is aiming to become the first player for 15 years to win three consecutive ranking titles, established a 3-1 interval lead with a cool century break in the fourth frame.
Welshman Williams compiled a 55 break to make it 3-2 before O'Sullivan added a break of 106 to restore his two-frame cushion.
A superb 128 break from Williams kept him in the fight, but O'Sullivan finished the job with a nerveless 78 run to progress.
Williams said: "It was an excellent game and it could have gone either way. I played well but Ronnie makes breaks from nowhere.
"He's probably the best player ever. I'm disappointed because I've won a few tournaments in China and if I'd got through the match tonight I could have gone on to win this one."
Glaswegian Maguire, meanwhile, held his nerve to beat Day in a tense final frame decider.
Day led 2-1, but Maguire pocketed breaks of 114 and 64 to keep his hopes of a Chinese double alive having won the China Open last season.
Breaks of 81 and 61 then kept Day, last season's runner-up, in the hunt, but he missed his chance to clinch victory in the decider.
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