Marco Fu v Barry Hawkins: Fu reaches last four after superb final clearance

The Hong Kong No 1 was 9-1 up but Hawkins, who beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the previous round, fought back to take the match to 9-10.

Then, at 21-11, he hit a superb break of 74 to clinch the match.

Afterwards, Fu, who will face Mark Selby in the last four, said: "It’s very difficult to defend a lead at the Crucible so when I was 9-1 up I knew Barry would fight back.

"I didn’t handle the pressure very well today until the end. I don’t know where the last frame break came from."

Frame scores: 70-52 (Hawkins 50, Fu 52), 82-0 (75), 92-5 (85), 41-64 (50), 10-107 (93), 70-65 (Fu 53), 128-5 (80), 60-74 (74)

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s conqueror from the second round went 9-1 down after the first two frames of the session and a hammering looked to be on the cards.

However, he hit back to take five of the last six frames – with Fu amassing a splendid 136 break in his only frame win – and leave himself just 10-6 behind.

The winner of the match will take on Mark Selby in the semi-finals.

Session scores: 7-90, 21-90 (71), 61-22, 86-0 (86), 64-28, 0-136 (136), 95-0 (95), 91-17 (75).

Marco Fu is half-way to the World Championship semi-finals after taking the opening session of his quarter-final against Barry Hawkins 7-1.

It was an abysmal afternoon for Hawkins less than a day after one of his finest hours, and the world number 11 was no doubt feeling the effects of his marathon match against O'Sullivan.

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Hawkins scored just 31 points in the opening five frames of the session, trailing 5-0 with his opponent having made breaks of 73, 76 and 81.

Hawkins finally dug in to get on the board in a close-fought sixth frame, but Fu then made three half-centuries in the final two frames of the session - frames in which Hawkins was restricted to just 10 points.

Session scores(Hawkins' scores first): 5-73 (73), 0-75, 20-67, 0-76 (76), 6-111 (81), 62-41, 10-116 (66,50), 0-82 (57)

2.30pm on Wednesday