World Championships Day 13

1st semi: Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) 6-2 Barry Hawkins (Eng) (10am & 7pm Friday)

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan built a 6-2 lead over Barry Hawkins in the first session of their best-of-33 World Championship semi-final.

The 38-year-old, seeking his third successive world title and sixth in all, took the final five frames of the afternoon, including a break of 108.

The match resumes on Friday morning at the Crucible Theatre.

Hawkins, the world number four who was beaten 18-12 by O'Sullivan in last year's final, was soon behind on Thursday as his opponent took the first with a run of 63.

But the left-hander recorded a 96 to level proceedings and then went ahead with a clearance of 76.

However, he missed a difficult long pot on the final red in frame four and O'Sullivan cleared up to make it even at the mid-session interval.

From there, O'Sullivan surged ahead, winning a scrappy final frame of the session after Hawkins missed several chances to narrow the gap to two frames overnight. 


2nd semi: Mark Selby (Eng) 5-3 Neil Robertson (Aus) (1430 Friday)

Mark Selby established a 5-3 lead over world number one Neil Robertson in the first session of their best-of-33 World Championship semi-final.

Selby took the opening frame with a 65 but needed a superb 133 clearance to make it 2-2 at the mid-session break.

However, he then added the next three frames before Robertson captured the last of the night with an assured 130 to reduce his deficit to only two.

The second session of the contest begins at 14:30 BST on Friday.

Selby, who lost the 2007 final 18-13 to John Higgins, trails 5-4 in head-to-head matches against Robertson but looked set for an early 2-0 lead, only to miss the final red as Robertson levelled with a clearance of 35.

The Australian left-hander won a tactical third frame spanning 39 minutes with a break of 46, which remained his highest until the final frame of the evening.

With 2010 champion Robertson leaving some key pots along the top cushion in the jaws of the corner pocket, world number three Selby moved ahead, aided by runs of 48 and 72.

But Robertson recorded his eighth century of the tournament - and 101st of the season - as the match went into day two intriguingly poised.