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Mark Selby summoned up one of the best sessions of his career to beat tournament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-11 with a gloriously methodical performance in their World Championship quarter-final.

Selby fought back from trailing 9-7 to finally overcome O'Sullivan, who began to falter in the latter stages of the match.

Selby won the final two frames of the afternoon session and he began the evening in fine fettle to reduce the gap to 9-8.

O'Sullivan responded with the next to move 10-8 ahead only for Selby to move to within one at 10-9.

A break of 75 saw O'Sullivan head for the mid-session interval holding an 11-9 advantage. It would be the last frame he would win at this year's tournament.

Selby claimed the last four frames to beat O'Sullivan 10-9 in the Masters final in January. He repeated that effort with an imperious closing four frames at the Crucible.

A 108 break, his first century of this year's tournament, saw the Leicester player reduce his arrears to 11-10.

He continued to dominate the final three frames as O'Sullivan's misses and poor shot selection proved costly.

The final frame of the night was indicative of Selby's performance as he potted a long green and brown before punching the air.

The stuffing had been knocked out of O'Sullivan. The champion in 2001, 2004 and 2008 conceded without playing for the two snookers he needed.

SECOND SESSION

Mark Selby won the final two frames of the session to trail Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-7 in a World Championship quarter-final match that continues to intrigue.

O'Sullivan was in the same formidable form that downed Mark Williams in the previous round as breaks of 92 and 89 saw the Englishman move 6-4 ahead.

A riposte of 75 allowed Selby to narrow the gap, but O'Sullivan went 7-5 up when he made another frame-winning contribution of 86.

There remains an edge to matches between these two men after Selby won the final four frames to beat O'Sullivan 10-9 in the Masters in January.

O'Sullivan certainly looked inspired as a 117 contribution, his first century of the match, and a 52 helped him establish a 9-5 advantage.

Selby's response was swift as a delightful 104 brought back him back to within three frames. It got better for him as he won the last frame of the afternoon with a 62 as O'Sullivan missed a red along a cushion before conceding needing a snooker.

They play to a finish this evening.

FIRST SESSION

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby were locked at 4-4 at the end of the first session of their World Championship quarter-final at the Crucible.

Three-time former champion O'Sullivan was playing well below the form that currently has him ranked as world number one, but he still managed to keep in touch with Masters champion Selby throughout a tense first session.

The winner of the best-of-25 match play either Graeme Dott or Mark Allen in the semi-final.

This last-eight encounter is a rematch of the January's Masters final, which Selby fought back to win 10-9.

Perhaps that history played on the minds of both players, as the first frame was a tense safety battle that lasted over 40 minutes.

Despite O'Sullivan seeming uncomfortable with such a game, he eventually came through after trapping Selby behind the blue. Selby had three attempts at escaping off four cushions, but he could not, and O'Sullivan than racked enough points to force his opponent to concede.

After such a drawn-out opener, then Selby levelled with a break of 84 in less than 15 minutes, and then took the lead after grinding out his points while O'Sullivan could not even get off the mark.

The three-times world champion's aim was off for much of the opening four frames - his shot success rate a lowly 79 per cent and highest break just 35. Despite that, he established a 40-point lead in the fourth before some loose safety play form Selby saw the two men go into the mid-session interval on level terms.

O'Sullivan resumed play with an excellent break-off, trapping Selby right behind the green, but a series of simple misses into the bottom corner allowed his opponent to to amass a confident break of 90 and edge ahead once more.

The Rocket finally found something approaching his best game and, after he nervously watched a black rattle the jaws of the pocket before dropping in, he hit a break of 67 that was just high enough to make Selby concede.

The seventh was the tightest frame of the session. With the pair locked at 40-40, O'Sullivan surges ahead but cut a tight green along the cushion slightly too thick, allowing Selby to steal in and win the frame on a high-pressure final black.

After a nasty stalemate at the beginning of the session's final frame, in which both players nudged the cue ball around close to the pack, it was O'Sullivan who ultimately prevailed, taking his break past 50 to end the day level despite his off-kilter performance.

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Desmond Kane / Eurosport