The BBC top brass were agonising on Monday afternoon about which of the quarter-finals to show live on Tuesday afternoon, with a potentially difficult choice between Ronnie O’Sullivan v Shaun Murphy/Marco Fu, and Neil Robertson v Judd Trump/Ryan Day at the time of writing.
The case for showing O’Sullivan, who gives the TV ratings a huge spike whenever he is on let alone at the Crucible and the World Championship, pretty much states itself. But bosses were leaning towards the Robertson match.
The prospect of possibly seeing the world No1 reach the historic milestone of 100 century breaks in a single season live on the BBC was one they were extremely reluctant to forego, and the chances were that if Trump prevailed against Day, making the quarter-final an especially attractive match-up, that might tip the balance.
The fact that Murphy and Trump emerged as the winners if anything made the decision, which is awaited with interest, even harder.