Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible

After his tight 10-9 win over Fan Zhengyi, the only match to have gone to a deciding frame so far, Shaun Murphy wondered if the experience would have made him stronger or drained all his energy.

We're seeing the response now as he has won the first three frames today to stretch his overnight lead from 6-2 to 9-2, although Xiao has just got one on the board today.

The winning target is 13, so Murphy could wrap up the match with a session to spare.

Xiao Guodong needs to get to four frames to take it to the final session, which would be tonight from 19:00 BST.

If it finishes early, the divider would go up and the whole crowd in for the evening session would have just the Barry Hawkins v Mark Williams match to enjoy.

Image source, BBC Sport

Barry Hawkins comes through a safety battle on the green against Mark Williams to take a delicately poised third frame.

Completely fascinating and in complete contrast to the two opening frames. What a match we have on our hands here.

Nothing is going right for China's Xiao Guodong. Another miss on a pink this time to the right middle presents Shaun Murphy with yet another frame.

The Englishman is cruising and a 66 puts him seven frames clear

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible

Image source, Michael Emons

Every day a member of the World Snooker Tour media team goes through the national and local newspapers and takes out anything snooker related and places it on the wall just outside the media centre.

A number of players have been spotted having a quick look at the articles to see what is being said about them on their way to and from the post-match news conferences, with both winners and losers speaking to the media.

Who will be making the headlines from today's play?

Image source, Michael Emons

China's Xiao Guodong misses an easy pink off the black spot and leaves Shaun Murphy an easy starter.

Xiao's highest break in this match is 44 and that is simply nowhere near good enough to compete with a player of Murphy's class.

The Englishman looks extremely confident and knocks in a 93 to take another frame.

Ken Doherty
1997 world champion on BBC Two

Mark Williams goes about breaks in a unique style. He is still a wonderful break builder but he would not do it in the same way as say a O'Sullivan or a Higgins.

He is such a clever player.

Mark Williams crafts a well thought out break of 69 to level the match after Barry Hawkins misses a blue to the top left corner.

A cracking start.

A scrappy opening frame goes the way of Shaun Murphy. He needs six more frames to advance. Could he wrap up a win with a session to spare?

Ken Doherty
1997 world champion on BBC Two

It is a great start from Barry Hawkins. He's got wonderful style. You know those little men that you see on top of the trophies, if you had a left-handed one of them it would look exactly like Barry Hawkins because his whole set up is perfect.

When he is playing well and scoring he does everything right. He very rarely plays the wrong shot. That is what makes him such a competitor, who is tough to break down.

He loves the big stage and knows what it's all about. He is not afraid of playing the big players like Mark Williams.

Barry Hawkins turned 47 and capitalises on a gift from Mark Williams to get his cue arm going.

The Weshman misses a pot to the left middle and laves 'The Hawk' with a very nice opening red to the top left corner.

From there the Englishman goes through the gears and knocks in frame ball inside seven minutes.

It's simply brilliant stuff from Hawkins, who is knocking in ball after ball and looks to be cueing wonderfully well as he compiles the 525th century break of his career with a 127 total clearance.

Image source, BBC Sport

Mark Williams has a very handy record against Barry Hawkins and defeated the Englishman on the way to winning his third world title in 2018.

However, Hawkins beat the Welshman in Llandudno on his way to winning the Welsh Open in February and is a top-class performer in his own right.

Image source, Getty Images

This should be a fascinating battle between two of the games best left-handed players.

Barry Hawkins has not advanced past the second round since 2018, when he reached the last four, only to lose 17-15 to Mark Williams.

However, he looked extremely comfortable in his 10-4 win over fellow former finalist Matthew Stevens in his opening match and will be bouyed by his recent success at the Welsh Open.

Could this be the year 'The Hawk' lifts his first Triple Crown trophy?

Three-time champion Williams also progressed with ease against Antoni Kowalski and is aiming to reach back-to-back finals at the Crucible again having first achieved the feat 26 years ago.

The Welsh potting machine has not been in amazing form since winning the Xi'an Grand Prix in October but if things click he could prove hard to stop.

Image source, Getty Images

Shaun Murphy resumes this morning with a healthy 6-2 lead over China's Xiao Guodong in their last-16 encounter.

Murphy edged past Fan Zhengyi 10-9 in the first round, calling his match-winning break of 50 in the decider the best break he had ever made at the Crucible after he had trailed 53-17.

However, the 43-year-old Englishman found Thursday's session to be calmer as he made breaks of 79, 103, 63 and 64 to go 5-0 ahead.

World number nine Xiao took the next two frames, but Murphy ended the session well and took the last with a run of 61 to have a four-frame lead in the first-to-13 match.

Here is what's on the menu today:

10:00

Xiao Guodong (9) 2-6 Shaun Murphy (8)

Barry Hawkins (11) v Mark Williams (6)

14:30

Zhao Xintong (1) v Ding Junhui (16)

Kyren Wilson (3) 3-5 Mark Allen (14)

19:00

Xiao Guodong (9) v Shaun Murphy (8)

Barry Hawkins (11) v Mark Williams (6)

All times are BST.

The 2026 World Snooker Championship got under way at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Saturday, 18 April - and you can watch every shot of the tournament live on the BBC.

Defending champion Zhao Xintong, who became the first champion from China after overcoming Mark Williams in last year's final, is the favourite this year.

This year is the 50th championship to be held at the Crucible since the tournament moved to Sheffield in 1977.

The final starts on 3 May and finishes on 4 May, with the winner taking home £500,000.

To watch live on BBC TV and follow uninterrupted coverage on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, click