SNOOKER/World Championship: Peter Ebdon and Marco Fu finally ended a mistake-ridden opening session of their World Championship semi-final level at 4-4 in Sheffield. Neither player found top form, with the match frequently bogged down in lengthy safety exchanges and missed pots.

A re-rack of the first frame after 15 minutes' play set the tone, but Fu did make an 81 to take an early lead. They traded the next three for a 2-2 score at the interval, but the standard deteriorated further and four scrappy frames later the scores were level.

Fu made a bright start with breaks of 41 and 81 in the second running of the opener, but nerves soon seemed to take hold. The Hong Kong-based player knocked in a break of 54 in the next, but a missed red let Ebdon in and the 2002 champion made 56 to level.

Fu won a scrappy third frame, but Ebdon went into the mid-session interval on level pegging after breaks of 42 and 50. Ebdon took the fifth, before a lengthy sixth frame - at 52 minutes, the second longest of the tournament - was finally sealed by Fu.

It was tit-for-tat in the seventh, with Ebdon rewarded for his persistence and the final frame was a horror show for both players before Fu finally prevailed 62-42.

In last night's other semi-final Ronnie O'Sullivan recovered from losing two of the first three frames to Scotland's Graham Dott and reeled off four frames in a row, 75-10, 76-14, 63-28, 73-40 to ease into a 5-3 lead.