First for China as Wenbo reaches quarter-finals

Qualifier Liang Wenbo became the first Chinese to reach the quarter-finals of the snooker world championship when he came through a tense deciding frame against Joe Swail to win 13-12 late on Monday.

Leading 9-7 at the start of the final session, the 21-year-old moved to within a frame of victory at 12-8. He then saw Swail reel off four frames in a row to level at 12-12. The Northern Ireland player looked on course to win in the final frame before a missed brown handed victory to Wenbo.

Wenbo, who is making his debut at The Crucible, will now face tournament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan for a place in the last four. He said he had struggled for consistency during the match.

"The first session was very good but in the second session I felt very nervous and played very tight. I think I played well in the final session but I did make mistakes," Wenbo said.

Swail was unhappy with the re-positioning of the yellow in the final frame following a foul shot, claiming that it had not been put in the correct place. Wenbo managed to hit the yellow at the second attempt, without the cue ball going off a cushion, after appearing to be snookered initially.

Wenbo insisted, however, that he had not been given an unfair advantage, saying: "The referee did the right thing because I misjudged the first shot."

O'Sullivan made a maximum 147 break, a record third in world championships, on his way to beating fellow Briton Mark Williams 13-7 earlier in the day.

Quarter-finals line-up: R. Day vs S. Hendry; R. O'Sullivan vs L. Wenbo; A. Carter vs P. Ebdon; S. Maguire vs J. Perry.