Snooker: Shaun Murphy Beats Matthew Stevens, While Ronnie O'sullivan Struggles

Shaun Murphy won the last six frames of his quarter-final against Matthew Stevens to complete a stunning comeback and progress into the semi-finals of the world championship.

Murphy, who won the world title in 2005, looked dead and buried when he went 12-7 down in the final session. But as Stevens' arm tightened, Murphy suddenly found his game. He made several high-pressure pots as he pulled back to 12-12 before a nerveless break of 44 in the final frame helped seal victory.

Meanwhile, tournament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan is two frames away from being knocked out after being blown away by John Higgins in the second session of their quarter-final. Higgins, the 1998 champion, took seven of this morning's eight frames, making five breaks in excess of 50 to take an 11-5 lead into tonight's final session.

O'Sullivan looked a shadow of the player who displayed such fluency in defeating Neil Robertson in the second round, becoming increasingly frustrated at his inability to close out frames. Indeed, it was easy to see why the No4 seed's last ranking tournament victory came at the Irish Masters in 2005 such was his inconsistency.