World Snooker Championship
Date: 18 April-4 May Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Coverage: Live coverage each day on BBC Two, BBC Red Button and BBC Sport website (UK only), updates on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Video - Robertson sweeps past Carter

Stephen Maguire set up a clash with Neil Robertson in the last eight at the Crucible by beating Mark King 13-6.

King led 5-4 early on, but Maguire, struggling at that stage, produced some stunning snooker to confirm why many believe he could win the tournament.

He put in a fine break of 133 in frame 14 and finished with a break of 51.

Australian Robertson beat Ali Carter 13-8. He led 9-7 overnight and smoothly took the opening two frames on Monday en route to an impressive victory.

Robertson said afterwards he would not be toning down his volcanic celebrations as the tournament reaches its latter stages.

The man from Melbourne has been inspired by Peter Ebdon's eccentric table manner and said: "I told Ali at the end of the match that it was nothing personal, it was just sport. If somebody did it to me I wouldn't care.

"Stephen Maguire bangs his cue, smashes things, but he doesn't do it to put his opponent off - it's just passion. Ebdon was great to watch when he used to go nuts.

"I think enthusiasts and neutrals that don't know too much about the game would love to see stuff like that. I personally do. If I'm watching a sport which I don't know too much about, and someone is going absolutely nuts, I'll probably carry on watching it."

The Maguire-King match will go down in Crucible history as featuring the slowest frame ever in the World Championship - at one hour, 14 minutes and 58 seconds on Sunday.

Reflecting on that turgid frame, the second of the match, Maguire - who won it 70-56 - said: "I just felt like giving it to him, if he wanted it that badly."

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