Mark Selby survives Barry Hawkins comeback to reach UK Championship quarter-finals, Mark Williams beats Jamie Clarke

The two-time UK champion was in command throughout until Hawkins rallied to set up a dramatic finale late on Wednesday evening in the Barbican Centre.

It was a high-quality affair from start to finish, with Selby drilling a long red to open his account in the first frame before clearing the table for a tournament high break of 142.

And ‘The Jester from Leicester’ was soon back among the balls in the second. This time he broke down on 52, but after a brief cameo from Hawkins, he returned to make it 2-0 and eight straight frames in this year’s tournament.

Hawkins brought that streak to an end in the next after a wild fluke into the yellow pocket before Selby notched his second century to move 3-1 clear at the interval.

It was three centuries in five frames when Hawkins made a magnificent 133 to reduce his arrears to 3-2, and the pair split the next two to leave it 4-3.

A chance to restore parity went begging in the eighth frame for Hawkins, who cut a frustrated figure walking back to his chair, and Selby duly pounced with a break of 70 to get to within a frame of victory.

But Hawkins displayed all his battling qualities to take the contest all the way. A break of 84 after a wild Selby miss made it 5-4 before a well-taken 88 set up a final-frame shoot-out.

The first couple of half-chances in the decider fell the way of Selby, who edged his way towards the finish line with a break of 36 before it descended into a back-and-forth safety battle.

Hawkins nibbled away at his deficit and got back on terms, but will be left to rue a gilt-edged chance that went awry when he snookered himself on the final blue.

That handed Selby a lifeline and he got over the line at the end of a near hour-long final-frame battle to progress.

On the other table, the much-fancied Mark Williams collided with Jamie Clarke.

Clarke, who came from 5-1 down in the first round to beat Kyren Wilson, made a break of 128 in the second frame as he raced into a 2-0 lead.

But Williams hit back, bookending a run of five straight frames with a 138 and a 107 to move to within sight of victory at 5-2.

Clarke had his fair share of chances but wasn’t clinical enough in the early part of the match. He pulled two frames back to close the gap, but it only delayed the inevitable, as Williams ran out a 6-4 winner, clinching it in style with a century.

The Welshman will take on Ding Junhui in what is a mouth-watering quarter-final clash.