World Championship Snooker:Stephen Hendry will be richly rewarded for his 147 maximum break but his World Championship title bid could be all over by tomorrow afternoon. Shaun Murphy was stirred into action by Hendry's mesmerising clearance in the seventh frame of the day and won seven of the next nine frames to establish a 9-7 lead.
The run leaves Murphy four frames away from a clash with Neil Robertson or Stephen Maguire in the semi-finals.
Hendry stands to pocket a £157,000 bonus, unless any other player makes a 147 in the next six days, and the tournament sponsors will make a separate £147,000 donation to Sport Relief.
But if he goes out in the quarter-finals all the money heading his way will come as scant consolation to the seven-time former world champion who has made a considerable fortune from the sport already.
Hendry has spoken of a strong belief that he can be champion again this year, 10 years since he last triumphed at the Crucible.
When he surged three frames clear on the back of his maximum break it did look as though the Perthshire cueman had rediscovered the prowess which allowed him to dominate the sport in the 1990s.
He was playing well enough to suggest only one match outcome was possible, but Murphy had other ideas.
He reeled off five frames in a row, playing stunning snooker as Hendry's performance wilted.
Balls which would have found the centre of the pocket earlier in the match were wriggling out via the jaws to Hendry's frustration, and Murphy was clinical whenever a chance came his way.
He raced through the frame following Hendry's maximum thanks to a break of 73, and when play resumed in the evening session Murphy began with runs of 137, 83, 104 and 80.
In the context of the match situation that sequence arguably was a greater achievement than Hendry's maximum.
However the run came to an end when the man who once won 29 consecutive World Championship matches pounced for the 13th frame, with a break of 51.
Murphy then won the scrappiest of frames to pull 8-6 in front.
The earlier fluency had gone but Hendry did not mind as he cleared from yellow to pink in the next frame to reduce his arrears to 8-7.
However Murphy fired in a deadly 82 break in the final frame of the night, putting him favourite for the match.
Mark Allen, the 23-year-old Northern Irish player who knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round, will take a 9-7 lead into theafternoon's concluding session of his match against Ryan Day.
Allen edged ahead of his Welsh opponent by taking the final two frames this evening, the last thanks to a break of 64.
The left-hander also notched the highest break of the second session, a rapid 119 in the 14th frame to add to his earlier 103 clearance.
The winner of that quarter-final will face either John Higgins or Mark Selby for a place in the final.
Leicester cueman Selby made three centuries and a break of 96 in a high-quality first session of his last-eight clash with Wishaw's Higgins, but had to settle for deadlock at 4-4.
The 25-year-old began the match with runs of 118, 124 and 117, however Higgins, 33, hit back impressively to win the next four frames, nudging in front with a break of 141. Higgins also made breaks of 57, 65 and 54.
Selby clinched the last of the session in convincing style but fell short of a fourth century when he missed the green. They resume Wednesday morning and play to a finish in the evening.
Australian Robertson seized a 5-3 lead against world number two Maguire after making breaks of 76, 105, 98 and 53.
Maguire was struggling in the early stages, perhaps feeling the effects of his gruelling second-round match against Mark King, but finished with a run of 75.