The Welshman, a three-time winner, beat four-time champion Higgins, of Scotland, with a dominant display and appears to suit his new brand of snooker, which he describes as "carefree."

Williams tops the average shot time rankings for the season with 18.1 seconds and has also set something of a trend with an alternative break off shot, which sees him roll into the back of the pack of reds off the top cushion - something that has been copied at this tournament by Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Williams started today’s play, which saw the pair contest two sessions, with a 5-3 advantage, which he quickly extended courtesy of five straight frames to open up a 10-3 lead.

In frame 14, Higgins spurned a great chance for a maximum 147 break missing a difficult 15^th black after running out of position with the cue ball.

The century did give him momentum and the Scottish player won the last two frames of the session to reduce his deficit to 10-6.

Williams claimed the first frame of the evening and made breaks of 85 and 77 on his way to completing the comfortable win.

Last year’s runner-up Kyren Wilson also booked his place in the last eight today after beating compatriot Barry Hawkins 13-10 in a high-quality contest between the two English players.

Wilson started the final session with a 9-7 advantage but Hawkins levelled proceedings at 9-9 making a century in the process.

Wilson regained the lead and after the interval completed victory thanks to breaks of 90 and 102.

Australia’s Neil Robertson also booked a quarter-final place after a 13-9 victory over England’s Jack Lisowski.

Entering the concluding session with a 9-7 lead, Robertson extended his cushion to four frames courtesy of breaks of 126 and 87.

Robertson won frame 20 courtesy of a slice of fortune when he fluked a red while attempting a safety and sealed a sixth win in as many meetings over Lisowski courtesy of a 90 break in frame 22.

Elsewhere, two more second round matches got underway with England’s Mark Selby taking a 6-2 lead over Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen after their first session.

Three-time world champion Selby’s top contribution was a break of 134 while he made six breaks over 50 during a dominant display.

England’s Shaun Murphy leads Masters champion Yan Bingtao of China by the same scoreline after the opening session of their clash.

Murphy, world champion in 2005 claimed the tournament’s highest break so far, 144, during a commanding performance.