Zhao fights back to tie Murphy heading into final session

Defending champion Zhao Xintong fought back against Shaun Murphy to leave their World Championship quarter-final delicately poised at 8-8 heading into Wednesday's concluding session.

On an exhilarating evening that delivered a bombardment of big breaks, Northern Ireland's Mark Allen also recovered from 5-3 down to get back to 8-8 against Barry Hawkins.

The Englishman's failure to drop in a tough pink, allowing Allen to restore parity, only served to add to arguably the best session of snooker at the Crucible this year.

Across both matches that yielded eight half centuries and four centuries, Zhao rounded off the night with a remarkable trick shot to pot the black and round off a spellbinding night in the perfect manner.

Zhao, who has openly talked about the pressure of defending his crown and lifting the 'Crucible curse' was transformed from the morning session where he let a 3-0 lead slip to trail 5-3.

The 29-year-old took the opening frame of the night and constructed breaks of 55, 67 and 117 as he went toe-to-toe with Englishman Murphy.

The 2005 world champion knocked in breaks of 59, 90 and 65 of his own and will not be fazed when their match is played to a finish on Wednesday from 14:30 BST.

Allen and Hawkins' match was every bit as compelling as they traded blows on the other side of the partition.

When the Northern Irishman compiled his 700th career century to get back to 7-6 with a wonderful 138, the 2013 finalist Hawkins' response was to knock in 140 - the joint-highest break of the tournament alongside Allen and Murphy.

World number 14 Allen replied with a superb 131 before taking a dramatic final frame, with their contest resuming at 10:00 BST on Wednesday.

Neil Robertson established a narrow 5-3 lead over John Higgins in a fiercely contested opening to their quarter-final.

Higgins compiled breaks of 61 and 56 to take the first frame and the fourth to draw level at 2-2.

However, the emotional and physical toll of defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-12 in an all-time Crucible classic on Monday appeared to weigh on the 50-year-old Scot at times.

The four-time champion made six unforced errors before reaching the mid-session interval and was far from his best in a scrappy affair.

Australia's Robertson, who won the world title in 2010, also failed to hit the heights despite enjoying runs of 77 and 70 and, at one point, he even had to have his chair repaired, adding to the protracted nature of their contest.

While he took the final two frames of the session, his pragmatic approach and an unfortunate run of the balls contributed to a drawn-out eighth frame that lasted almost 52 minutes and delayed the start of the evening session.

Robertson and Higgins get back under way on Wednesday at 10:00 BST.

In contrast, Hossein Vafaei and Wu Yize are level at 4-4 after an entertaining start to their best-of-25 encounter.

With both players seemingly focused on attacking snooker, Iran's Vafaei knocked in a break of 66 to lead 2-1 before Wu underlined his status as one of the game's burgeoning talents with runs of 90, 56 and 56 to pull 4-2 ahead.

Vafaei, who had to win two qualifiers before advancing past Si Jiahui and then world number one Judd Trump in a final-frame thriller, responded with a break of 71.

And he drew level when Wu failed to knock in a presentable long black to the top left corner, clearing the table up to, and including, the pink.

They return for the second session of their best-of-25 encounter on Wednesday at 14:30 BST.