The last of China’s five-strong force at the World Snooker Championship faces an uphill task to make the last-eight of the Sheffield event on Sunday. Yan Bingtao, the reigning Masters champion, trails 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy 2-6 in their second round match, which will conclude at 10.30pm on Sunday (Hong Kong time). Murphy registered the highest break of the tournament so far, 144, in a dominant opening session of the clash. The 38-year-old raced into a three-frame lead before Yan opened his account in frame four courtesy of a break of 88. The next three went the way of the Englishman, seeded seventh at the Crucible this year, before Yan gave himself a fighting chance going into today’s concluding sessions with a break of 101 to make the score 2-6. Ding Junhui out of World Snooker Championships, Yan Bingtao sole Chinese player left Elsewhere on Saturday, Mark Williams came through a tie against fellow former world champion John Higgins 13-7 in a re-run of the 2018 final. The Welshman will now meet either Mark Allen or Mark Selby in the last-eight. After the match, the 2018 champion played down his chances of a title in Sheffield. ““I probably played as good as I was in 2018 I suppose,” Williams said, “but I’m just being honest, in 2018 when I was coming here I thought I had a great chance of winning it – I was playing some great stuff. https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3130382/ding-junhui-out-world-snooker-championships-yan-bingtao-sole “I don’t feel like that this year. If I feel like I can win it I’ll tell you, but I don’t feel I can play good enough or can sustain it to win it.” Australia’s Neil Robertson booked his place in the quarter-finals with a 13-9 win over world No 14 Jack Lisowski, and 2020 finalist Kyren Wilson claimed a 13-10 win against Barry Hawkins.