Doherty and Fu set up tense climax as O’Sullivan gets a warning

KEN DOHERTY and Marco Fu are locked at 8-8 going into today’s final session of their 888.com World Championship quarter-final.

Doherty, the 1997 champion, took the first two frames of the match before Fu reeled off five frames in a row to make it 5-3, including a break of 121.

In the evening session, Doherty won five frames in a row to make it 8-6 before Fu rallied.

Hong Kong qualifier Fu racked up breaks of 57 and 110 to set up a tense finale.

Graeme Dott leads Neil Robertson 10-6 and needs to win only three frames this morning to advance.

Dott led 5-3 after the morning session and took the first three frames of the evening’s play before Robertson managed to stop the onslaught.

The Australian then dug deep to win two of the final three frames courtesy of breaks of 71 and 62.

Yesterday, Ronnie O’Sullivan was warned for swearing and title-holder Shaun Murphy suffered a nightmare.

The afternoon matches involved the quartet who have won the six titles since 2000 and O’Sullivan ended the first session level at 4-4 with Mark Williams.

After the opening two frames had been shared, ‘The Rocket’ vented his frustration in the next.

A poor positional shot prompted an audible obscenity from the world number one, earning him snooker’s equivalent of the yellow card from referee Jan Verhaas. Any further outburst would result in Williams being awarded a frame.

O’Sullivan missed an easy brown and went 2-1 down before the Welshman extended his lead with a break of 67, but after the interval the 2001 and 2004 champion showed more of his quality. He trailed 4-2 when Williams, after potting the opening red in frame seven, knocked his head on the table in despair as he ran out of position and O’Sullivan took full advantage.

Breaks of 45 and 79 ensured the 30-year-old from Essex was all square going into this morning’s second stint.

On the other table, Murphy, aiming to become the only first-time champion to have successfully defended the crown, found himself 7-1 down to Peter Ebdon.

The South Yorkshire crowd, firmly behind Rotherham-based Murphy, was left stunned as he never got going until the last frame of the session when he made a decisive 64. But despite his huge advantage, there was still disappointment for 2002 champion Ebdon as he missed the chance of a maximum 147 break in frame seven.

After potting 12 reds and 12 blacks, the Dubai-based 35-year-old left himself a tricky pot into the middle, bridging over another ball, and agonisingly saw it hit the jaw of the pocket.