We are all square at the mid-session interval. A break of 54 early in the frame helped Mark Allen take control and he never let that go.

Not as high scoring as we would have hoped, but still fascinating and some superb safety battles.

You would be brave betting on a winner.

A rueful shake of the head from Mark Allen as he runs out of position while potting the pink ball having made a break of 54. There's still 75 on the table, but Allen is still in a strong position to make it 2-2.

Mark Allen, having lost the past two frames, has a chance to make it 2-2 here. He's up to 40 and potting beautifully in this break.

An early re-rack in frame four, which is always better than doing it when both players have points on the board. So we start again in frame four.

Mark Allen is racking up the fouls, with five already in only the third frame of the match, often aiming for the slightest edge of a red, but just missing it.

Mark Williams is now 40 in front, with 35 on the table and one last red.

Allen then leaves it on and that is the end of the frame. From 1-0 down, Mark Williams is 2-1 ahead.

Mark Williams gets back at the table and leads 54-1 only to give Mark Allen a chance. But the Northern Irishman can only add 22 before he runs out of position and in attempt to get it back, then goes in off. 54-23.

There have only ever been seven 16-red clearances in professional snooker tournaments and none ever at the Masters.

That doesn't change now as Mark Williams breaks down on 36, with nine reds still on the table.

Mark Allen, with all 15 reds on the table, tries a thin clip of one, but misses it and that gives Mark Williams a free ball, with the brown counting as an extra red, and that goes into the middle pocket, followed by the pink.

Could we be seeing a 16-red clearance at the Masters?

There's some good humour out there with Allen needing a snooker and Williams leaving the pink over the pocket. Allen tries to hit it around the table, but no joy and that foul leads to him conceding the frame soon after. One-one.

We've been going nearly an hour and are still in frame two. It's going to be one of those tight matches. Williams currently leads by 14 with only the pink and black left so Allen needs a snooker.

Image source, BBC Sport

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This has all the ingredients of being a very hard-fought match between two former Masters winners. Williams got in first with 23 in frame two, followed by Allen getting 40 and now we have a high quality safety exchange.

Mark Allen's break of 67 is the difference in the opening frame and he takes an early lead.

Mark Allen rattles in a run of 67 but then misses frame ball with the red staying out. Mark Williams has 75 points on the table still to play for, but only gets 23 before coming unstuck.

We have a delay in play at the moment as it appears a member of the crowd has fallen ill.

Wu Yize will now play Xiao Guodong in the quarter-finals on Thursday after Xiao played superbly to defeat three-time champion Mark Selby in the evening session.

Xiao, 36, made breaks of 95, 62, 76 and 77 as he won the opening four frames, with Selby's highest break only being 21.

But the four-time world champion threatened a superb comeback as he made breaks of 101 and 76 to bring it back to 2-4.

Xiao had not potted a ball in 46 minutes but then did excellently to make a break of 118 to move one frame away from victory, which he clinched by edging a scrappy eighth frame.

"I felt a bit of pressure when I entered the stadium because it was the first time I've played in such a big stadium and the fans were so enthusiastic," said Wu Yize.

"After the first frame I felt a bit more relaxed and I totally enjoyed the atmosphere. It's definitely a great achievement for myself, my first time playing at the Masters and the first time beating Shaun Murphy."