Doherty fights back to lead Fu

Snooker:  Ireland's Ken Doherty has staged a fine comeback at the Crucible to lead Marco Fu 7-6 in the World Championship quarter…

Snooker:  Ireland's Ken Doherty has staged a fine comeback at the Crucible to lead Marco Fu 7-6 in the World Championship quarter-final.

The Dubliner had earlier trailed Fu, the surprise package of the tournament, after the Hong Kong player had continued his fine form by taking a 5-3 lead.

But Doherty has reeled off four frames in-a-row to edge marginally ahead.

Doherty, the 1997 champion, went into the match as hot favourite after his impressive 13-8 victory over Matthew Stevens yesterday and made the ideal start by winning the first two frames.

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But then Fu found his rhythm and reeled off five in succession, completing the spree with a break of 121 that was his third century of the competition.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was warned for swearing and title-holder Shaun Murphy suffered a nightmare in the two showpiece quarter-finals.

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

After the opening two frames had been shared, each player making a single  visit to the table count, '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 during the rest of the match would result in Williams being awarded a frame.

Murphy, aiming to become the only first-time champion to have successfully defended the crown, is 7-1 down to Peter Ebdon in a repeat of last year's semi-final.

Graeme Dott, the 2004 runner-up, opened a 9-5 lead over Australia's Neil Robertson in a contest that featured plenty of mistakes from both men.

All quarter-finals are the best of 25 frames. PA