Ronnie O’Sullivan. Picture by Monique Limbos

RONNIE O’Sullivan and Judd Trump made good progress as they began their bid to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship.

Five-times world champion O’Sullivan recovered from a slow start to earn a 6-2 overnight lead against 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy.

And Trump, bidding to win his first world title, produced his best display of the World Championship so far as two wonderfully crafted centuries helped him to a 6-2 lead against world number one Neil Robertson.

O’Sullivan, seeking his third straight World Championship title, had to dig deep in the last round to knock out Joe Perry and things did not go his way from the outset in this quarter-final tie as breaks of 101 and 59 saw Murphy go 2-0 up.

And the recent Haikou World Open winner was in pole position to take a 3-0 lead but failed to escape from a much-needed snooker from O’Sullivan on the final brown and then played a poor safety which allowed the Rocket to get off the mark.

Parity was restored when O’Sullivan cleared the colours to make it 2-2 before a break of 72 swung the match in his favour for the first time.

The next frame came down to the pink and Murphy’s attempted pot missed its target and also freed the black from a cushion, leaving O’Sullivan to pot both for 4-2.

After gaining a stranglehold on the table and carrying momentum, O’Sullivan then increased his lead to 6-2 with breaks of 94 and 136.

Trump, who so far has shown his battling side to his game with wins against Tom Ford and Ryan Day, showed a more fluent side as he gained the upper hand against Robertson.

Despite a scrappy opening to an hugely anticipated match, Trump came back from behind to take three of the first four frames.

The Bristol potter then went 4-1 ahead after the mid-session interval with a break of 107. A break of 60 then helped him go 5-1 in front.

Robertson, in his most precarious position in the tournament so far, reduced his deficit to 5-2 with a 33 clearance.

But it was Trump who had the final say of the session as a superb break of 117 gave him a 6-2 lead.