Shaun Murphy beats Zhao 13-10 to reach snooker semis

Shaun Murphy advanced to the semifinals of the World Snooker Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre after defeating defending champion Zhao Xintong 13-10 in a gripping quarterfinal match on Wednesday.

The 43-year-old Englishman, the 2005 world champion, trailed 8-8 heading into the final session but pulled ahead with breaks of 96, 80, 70 and 69 to secure one of the best victories of his career. Murphy had earlier survived a tense 10-9 first-round win over Fan Zhengyi, sealed by a remarkable 50 clearance in the decider, before comfortably beating Xiao Guodong 13-5 in the last 16. Zhao, who entered as the tournament favorite after winning three ranking events this season, became the 21st player to fall victim to the Crucible curse, which has prevented any first-time defending champion from retaining the title since the event moved to Sheffield in 1977.

Murphy now faces John Higgins in Thursday's semifinal starting at 1 p.m., a rematch of their 2009 final won by the Scot, who leads their head-to-head record 16-13. Higgins reached his 12th Crucible semifinal with a 13-10 quarterfinal win over Neil Robertson. The other semifinal pits Mark Allen against Wu Yize.