Masters 2014: Ronnie O'Sullivan eases past Robert Milkins

Ronnie O'Sullivan, who has won the Masters four times

Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised to a 6-1 victory over Robert Milkins to reach the quarter-finals at the Masters.

The world champion raced into a 5-0 lead but slipped up in frame six and allowed Milkins to avoid the whitewash.

Four-time Masters winner O'Sullivan responded by winning frame seven to seal victory.

Earlier, Shaun Murphy beat Ding Junhui 6-4 in a match that was delayed because of a power cut at Alexandra Palace in London.

O'Sullivan will next face either Barry Hawkins or Ricky Walden in the last eight, who meet at 19:00 GMT on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old made short work of Milkins and took little over an hour to establish a 5-0 lead.

A rare mistake allowed Milkins, 37, to pull a frame back before O'Sullivan finished the job, with British artist Damien Hirst and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood among the spectators.

O'Sullivan said: "Damien has been in my corner for a long time. He gets me and understands how challenging this game can be, and gives me a lot of support. It was brilliant for Ronnie to come because I hadn't seen him for ages.

"We all had a good night out - it gets a bit boring sitting in and watching Big Brother."

Murphy was made to work harder for his victory over Ding and battle back from 2-0 and 4-2 down to set up a meeting with Marco Fu in the last eight.

China's Ding, who won the Masters title in 2011, took a 2-0 lead with breaks of 99 and 84 but Murphy was able to make it 2-2 at the interval.

After restoring his two-frame lead, Ding lost his way and his opponent took the next four frames to go through.

The 26-year-old looked favourite to go through but missed the chance to go 5-2 up when he led frame seven and never recovered.

England's Murphy took advantage by winning frames seven and eight before taking the lead for the first time in the match and going on to seal victory.

The 31-year-old, who has never won the Masters, will meet Hong Kong's Fu, who came through the first round with a 6-5 victory over Judd Trump.

The match between Murphy and Ding started at 14:20 GMT - 80 minutes late - because of the power failure.