O'Sullivan began his match against Dott with a break of 64 and then made his 21st century break of the 2004/2005 season with a 130 in the second. Dott tied the match at 3–3 with a 41 clearance. O'Sullivan then clinched the next three frames with breaks of 72 and 85 with a 51 clearance to win 6–3. John Higgins, the 1999 Masters champion. faced fellow Scot Chris Small. Higgins won the opening four frames with 106, 60, 47 and 48 runs. Small prevented a whitewash by taking frame five. Higgins lost the chance of a maximum break in frame six when he missed the sixth black ball shot while on 65 points. He then won frame seven and the game 6–1. At age 17 Ding became the youngest quarter-finals player in Masters history when he defeated Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, 6–1; Doherty contracted an ear infection three days earlier . Doherty won frame two as Ding took the first, third and fourth frames with the tournament's highest break (a 141 clearance) and further runs of 81 and 52. Doherty lost frame five after missing the black ball and then the sixth with a missed shot on the pink. He then forced a re-spotted black ball finish in frame seven that Ding won.