World Snooker Championship 2023 results: Ronnie O'Sullivan's hopes ended by Luca Brecel in last eight

Ronnie O'Sullivan's hopes of an eighth World Championship title came to an end in the quarter-finals as Luca Brecel staged a superb fightback to win 13-10.

O'Sullivan, who equalled Stephen Hendry's record of seven Crucible crowns last year, had led 6-2 and 10-6.

But Brecel reeled off seven frames on the trot in a remarkable finale with breaks of 112, 64, 72, 61, 78 and 63.

Brecel's semi-final opponent will be Si Jiahui who beat Anthony McGill 13-12 in a nervy final-frame decider.

That best-of-33 encounter will commence on Thursday (13:00 BST) and also be played over Friday and Saturday.

Si and McGill went into their final session level at 8-8 and the momentum shifted from the Scot, who went 11-9 ahead, back to Si, who made a break of 87 on his way to winning three consecutive frames to move within one of victory at 12-11.

McGill, 32, countered by producing his first century of the match with an exceptional run of 130 but then gifted his 20-year-old opponent the opportunity to make a telling 41 break after missing a pot to the bottom corner playing left-handed.

And while the Scot initially played on for three snookers it proved enough for Si to become only the second player from mainland China after Ding Junhui to reach the semi-finals in Sheffield and the first debutant to reach that stage since 1995.

Si, who is also the youngest semi-finalist since O'Sullivan in 1996, said: "I feel very lucky because there were times I didn't think I could win.

"I kept it tight and kept my nerves under control. I just wanted to concentrate to perform under this extreme pressure. My mindset changed but I held myself together very well."

Brecel's stunning finish saw 39-time ranking-event winner O'Sullivan fail to win a frame in a session at the Crucible for the first time since his 17-11 loss to Graeme Dott in the 2006 semi-final.

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"He played unbelievable. He is such a good player and I love watching him. He is such a dynamic player and he is full a talent," O'Sullivan told BBC Sport.

"Probably the most talented snooker player I have ever seen. I would love to go and see him win it just for snooker because that is how the game should be played.

"If I'd have put up a bit more resistance maybe he wouldn't have played as well but you still have to pot the balls. I just wasn't playing well enough to have an impact on the game.

"If it was a boxing match they'd have stopped it very early because I was pinching frames and hanging on and it catches up with you at some point."

Sublime Brecel takes the plaudits

Luca Brecel is the first player from mainland Europe to reach the World Championship semi-finals

Brecel's attacking style has been lauded by fans as well as O'Sullivan and he could yet complete the campaign in sensational fashion having not won a match at the Crucible until 10 days ago.

"It was a great feeling to play like that. I know that if the balls go well for me I can easily win seven frames in a row even against Ronnie, so I am not surprised," Brecel said.

"Mentally I was ready but physically I wasn't feeling too well, I was sweating and my arm didn't feel good. It is amazing to beat someone like Ronnie from so far behind.

"I felt good from 10-9 down. My cue ball improved when I got to 10-10 and every frame got better."

Tense victories over Ricky Walden and Mark Williams and the culmination of his victory against O'Sullivan have all showcased the best of 'the Belgian Bullet', who took the unorthodox step of arriving at the tournament with just 15 minutes of practice under his belt.

However, his capacity to go from the sublime to the ridiculous had for long periods appeared likely to prove his undoing against arguably the sport's greatest-ever player, who thrashed him 6-1 at the Masters in January.

There are several moments Brecel will happily forget, particularly in the first session when he let a 2-1 lead slip to a 6-2 deficit - with a barrage of stunning pots punctuated by careless and wild misses on reds in both the fifth and sixth frames.

It was a theme that was applicable until Wednesday's concluding session and even then the opening frame underscored the point.

Brecel missed relatively simple pots on a blue to the middle and black to the corner and left himself needing to roll in a difficult pink after electing to play for the green with his final red instead of the blue.

From that point on though he produced an exhilarating array of shots to record his first victory over O'Sullivan since 2017.

• Match schedule, results & TV coverage times

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