WORLD number one Mark Selby secured a place in the semi-finals of the World Championship with a 13-8 victory over qualifier Kyren Wilson, who recorded the tournament's highest break of 143.
The 2014 champion had resumed Wednesday's morning session with a commanding 10-6 overnight lead. Selby looked on course for a swift conclusion after clearances of 92 and 78 left him on the brink of the last four.
However, Wilson, who defeated Joe Perry and Mark Allen en route to the quarter-finals, recovered to reduce the deficit before taking the final frame ahead of the mid-session interval with a superb century break to better the 141 of Barry Hawkins in round one. It was, though, only a matter of time before Leicestershire potter Selby sealed victory, which he delivered at the first opportunity following the restart with a 64 clearance.
Selby, who has failed to win a ranking event this season, will next take on either Marco Fu or Hawkins in the semi-final, with their tie set to resume on Wednesday afternoon with Fu 7-1 ahead. Wilson, 24, believes he has the game to one day win the World Championship.
He said at a press conference: "Without a doubt I will win this event in the future. I completely believe in myself and this hasn't dampened my confidence.
"I will have a bit of a rest and will be back working very, very hard to make sure next season is even better than this one."
The world number 19 hopes his 143 will be enough to land him the highest-break prize, and he said: "I hope not [it won't be beaten] because my cue might be in pieces if it is. It was a nice break but at 12-6 down I'm sort of out of the match so it's a nice little consolation prize and hopefully it will stand."
The quarter-final on the other table looks set to go the distance after John Higgins edged out Alan McManus 9-7. McManus resumed 5-3 down, but reeled off the opening three frames to lead 6-5.
However, Higgins levelled up with an 80 clearance before taking the last two frames, which included a century, to open up a slender advantage heading into Wednesday evening's concluding session.
