The big question ahead of Tuesday's quarter-final is: Can Steve Davis continue his remarkable run at the Crucible and stun the ninth seed Australian Neil Robertson?
Well, judging by his wins over Mark King and John Higgins already this past week, anything is possible, but I have a feeling this may be the end of the road for the 52-year-old, who is 11-2 with tournament sponsors Betfred.
Davis has performed remarkably well up to this point and will hold his own against Robertson, but the way the Cambridge-based potter from Down Under powered back from 11-5 down to beat Martin Gould suggests he will probably be too good for the 'Legend'.
He is very short at 1-7, so the 5-6 about a five-and-a-half frame advantage for Davis may be the route to go down.
GRAEME DOTT has been nothing short of sensational so far and he has rather crept under the radar sue to other goings-on at the Crucible, and his display against world number two Stephen Maguire was magnificent and if he can carry on that form against Mark Allen, then the 15-8 with Betfred and Ladbrokes could be one heck of a bet.
He slammed in three centuries and two 90+ breaks as he swept Maguire away, strolling to victory 13-6, and the 'Pocket Dynamo' seriously thinks he can repeat his title success of 2006.
Allen has enjoyed easy wins over Tom Ford and Mark Davis, but the problem for him is of the ease with which he has won. Sometimes enduring hard matches make players play better the following match, while easy games can have a psychological effect in that they take their foot off the pedal, but Allen is a hardened match player and that shouldn't really affect him, although he does struggle to kick on in the latter stages of tournaments, another factor which could give Dott the edge.
The afternoon session sees Ronnie O'Sullivan take on old nemesis Mark Selby which should be an absolute belter. It looked a bit dicey for O'Sullivan against Mark Williams, but he played some wonderful stuff late on in that game and he is 8-13 with Skybet to silence the 'Jester from Leicester'.
Selby crushed Stephen Hendry in the second round, although some of that was due to an inept performance from Hendry, who I think will throw the towel in sooner rather than later if he continues to play like that. But Selby still looked supremely good and sportingbet have dangled a rather tantalising carrot at 13-8, although it may be better to have a punt-in-play after witnessing the opening exchanges.
The final last-eight game sees Shaun Murphy, fresh from his superb victory over Ding Junhui, take on Ali Carter with the fifth seed meeting the fourth seed – and Murphy is the 4-7 jolly with Betfred, but as short as 2-5 with Skybet.
Murphy loves it at the Crucible and he seems to reserve some of his best displays for the hallowed arena, but Carter should not be written off as he's proving to be very consistent and at 9-5 with Boylesports, he'll have his followers in a match that looks too close to call.
