Luke Donald wasted little time moving in sight of his first quarter-final appearance at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson.
Donald, never behind as he beat Charley Hoffman and Edoardo Molinari in the opening two rounds, marched into a four hole lead after only seven holes against 17 year old Matteo Manassero.
The teenage Italian is the youngest player ever to compete in the event and was on a real high after knocking out Steve Stricker and Charl Schwartzel.
But the 2009 British Amateur Champion, already a European Tour winner in his nine month old professional career, could not match Donald's birdies at the first and fourth, bogeyed the next and then saw his opponent fire in another superb approach at the seventh.
Northern Ireland's US Open Champion Graeme McDowell was involved in a much tighter game with Korean Y E Yang, however.
McDowell was two down after missing a three foot birdie chance at the long eighth, but won the next two holes to draw level.
The other Europeans in the last 16 were World Number Two Martin Kaymer and 47 year old Spaniard Miguel Angel Jiménez.
Kaymer, who needs to reach Sunday's final to replace Lee Westwood at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking, instantly fell two down to American Hunter Mahan but birdied the next, while Jiménez was off to a spectacular start against Mahan's fellow countryman Ben Crane.
Rory McIlroy had been beaten 8 and 7 by Crane, but the boot was on the other foot as Jiménez took the first four holes, three of them with birdies.
Because of a bad weather forecast for Sunday morning - with a chance of snow even - the schedule for the event has been changed so that both the quarter-finals and semi-finals will now be played on Saturday.
The quarter-finals will start at 7.10am local time (1410 GMT) and the semis at 11.45am (1845 GMT). The final, 18 holes for the first time this year, will then tee off at 12.15pm Sunday (1915 GMT).
Donald lost the long eighth, but holed from 20 feet at the next and won the tenth as well with a par to move five up.
American Bubba Watson and Jiménez both held the same commanding lead after 13 and eight holes - Watson was facing twice winner Geoff Ogilvy - while McDowell was level after 12 and Kaymer one down at the turn.
