Barry Hawkins made easy work of Shaun Murphy to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Dafabet Masters on Tuesday.

Murphy joins the likes of Mark Allen, John Higgins and Mark Williams, who are all former champions, in falling at the first hurdle.

Hawkins, who can be backed at 12.00 to win the Dafabet Masters outright, had previously struggled to perform at the Masters – failing to win a match in his first five appearances – but he has enjoyed his recent visits to Alexandra Palace.

The 39-year-old was a beaten finalist in 2016, losing to Ronnie O’Sullivan, while he made it to the semi-finals in 2017. He will need to find a way past Australian Neil Robertson, who stunned Williams earlier on Tuesday, to make the last-four once again.

The Londoner cruised into a 5-0 lead with breaks of 86, 124 and 60 but Murphy responded by claiming the next two frames.

However, Hawkins ended Murphy’s hopes of a dramatic comeback by clinching the eighth frame and he admitted “lady luck” was on his side.

“It was a big moment to nick the second frame from 50 behind,” said Hawkins.

“I think it hurt him a little bit. When I got chances I had lady luck on my side — I fluked a red into the middle pocket in the third frame and made a good break. In spells I felt pretty decent and confident in myself.

“I was 5-0 up and probably relaxed a little bit and missed a couple of balls, but I wasn’t twitching at that stage.

“It’s a nightmare because the crowd want to see it go 5-5. They want to see as much snooker as possible when you just want to get out of there and win the match.”