Ebdon defeats champion Murphy

Title holder Shaun Murphy was knocked out of the world championship last night, losing 13-7 to Peter Ebdon in the quarter-finals.

Ebdon resumed with a 10-6 lead going into the final session and took three of the opening four frames.

The Briton, who missed a chance to compile a maximum 147 break in the 17th frame when he missed the last red, will meet Marco Fu in the semi-finals.

Hong Kong's Fu became only the second Asian player to reach the semi-finals at The Crucible when he beat Irishman Ken Doherty 13-10.

Fu, who had to qualify for the tournament, won four frames in a row after trailing 10-9 to book his place in the last four.

"I've been struggling with my game, but since working with Terry Griffiths. I've improved a lot and found my interest again," Fu said.

"I'm playing a lot better than I was five months ago when I was struggling to make a fifty break."

The last Asian representative in the semi-finals was Thailand's James Wattana in 1997. "Hopefully I can make the game a little bit more popular just like James Wattana did when he was in his prime," Fu said.

Graeme Dott clinched the final frame to beat Australian qualifier Neil Robertson 13-12.

Dott, who was a losing finalist two years ago, was pleased with his form.

"Being in the semi-finals, I've got a good chance because I know I'm playing well," the Scot said.

Decisive error

A decisive error from Robertson in the final frame led to his downfall. The left-hander from Melbourne hit back from 51-1 down in the last frame to set up a tense battle on the colours.

Dott, nearly snookered, was faced with a fine clip on the yellow and completely missed it, giving Robertson the option to have the balls replaced. But the 24-year-old elected to play himself and made a hash of his safety shot.

He left the Glaswegian simple pots on yellow and green and Dott punched the air in delight after securing a tricky match-ball brown. Robertson battled on for a snooker but his chance was gone.

Dott's opponent in today's semi-finals is Ronnie O'Sullivan who last night beat former world champion Mark Williams 13-11.

Today's semi-finals: Fu vs Ebdon; Dott vs O'Sullivan.