SHEFFIELD (England), April 27: Defending champion Peter Ebdon was joined by Stephen Lee and John Higgins in the quarterfinals of the World Snooker Championship on Saturday.

Ebdon reached the last eight following a comfortable 13-5 win over Malta’s Tony Drago.

Ebdon had annoyed Drago on Friday by playing slower than normal and leaving the arena for an extended toilet break. But his coach cited a diarrhoea problem as the reason.

Lee fought back from 9-6 down to beat crowd-favourite Jimmy White 13-11 in a scrappy final session.

Higgins booked his quarterfinal place with a convincing 13-7 win over qualifier Sean Storey.

Results of second round matches (best of 25 frames):

Finished on Saturday:

Stephen Lee (England) beat Jimmy White (England) 13-11. Frame scores (Lee first): 14-104, 102-16, 65-24, 40-73, 11-71, 1-69, 29-69, 130-0, 49-60, 57-36, 74-40, 59-55 (Lee conceded frame on black) 15-69, 66-61, 16-79, 81-0, 28-78, 67-0, 78-5, 68-15, 70-52, 42-48, 70-15, 81-1.

Stephen Hendry (Scotland) beat Drew Henry (Scotland) 13-10. Frame scores (Hendry first): 44-68, 35-71, 28-65, 74-48, 59-23, 117-4, 83-18, 69-55, 65-32, 54-68, 114-0, 22-60, 100-13, 1-109, 72-42, 1-59, 36-16, 7-69, 64-72, 63-7, 130-0, 62-26, 72-25.

John Higgins (Scotland) beat Sean Storey (England) 13-7. Frame scores (Higgins first): 76-39, 122-0, 107-1, 41-59, 93-23, 32-94, 137-0, 135-1, 65-2, 9-90, 0-104, 75-21, 76-30, 85-0, 51-65, 72-73, 87-39, 30-59, 68-1, 74-23.

Peter Ebdon (England) beat Tony Drago (Malta) 13-5. Frame scores (Ebdon first): 0-69, 19-93, 79-21, 32-79, 69-14, 70-52, 69-41, 44-70, 70-25, 70-19, 1-112, 92-38, 74-49, 77-44, 31-12, 105-0, 72-25, 84-0.—Reuters