London (AFP) - Defending champion Zhao Xintong fell victim to the “Crucible curse” as he was knocked out of the World Snooker Championship on Wednesday following a 13-10 quarter-final defeat by Shaun Murphy.

Zhao, 29, was the first Chinese player to be crowned world champion when he beat three-time winner Mark Williams 18-12 in last year’s final.

But Wednesday’s outcome means no first-time world champion has retained the title since the tournament moved to Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 1977.

Murphy’s victory leaves the Englishman just two wins away from a second world title, 21 years after lifting snooker’s most prestigious trophy.

Zhao established an early 3-0 lead only for the 43-year-old Murphy to come back into the best-of-25-frames contest.

“Shaun played really well, he gave me big pressure and played perfect snooker today,” Zhao told the BBC. “He deserved to win.

“I felt some pressure (as defending champion) but I still felt alright. I tried to get better, but Shaun is a good player and he played very well so congratulations to him.”

The players were all square at 8-8 but Murphy edged ahead Wednesday with a break of 98 before reeling off several more telling contributions, including a match-clinching effort of 69, against a player he labelled the “best on the planet” earlier this week.

“When you’re playing great players, which Zhao Xintong unquestionably is, it makes it straightforward for you,” Murphy said afterwards.

- Wu Yize ‘like a Playstation’ -

But there will be Chinese representation in the last four after the 22-year-old Wu Yize beat Iran’s Hossein Vafaei 13-8 to set up a semi-final with Mark Allen.

The match was level at 4-4 early on but Wu, who struck 12 breaks of 50 or more, eventually pulled clear of Vafaei to book his first appearance in the semi-finals of the World Championship with some impressive potting.

“The last session I finally found my rhythm which I’m really happy about,” said Wu. “It’s going to be my first time playing the one-table session so I feel I can do anything now.”

Vafaei, who edged world number one Judd Trump 13-12 in the previous round, likened Wu to a computer game.

“The guy was potting from everywhere – I lost four or five frames out of nowhere… It was like playing against a Playstation you know? You are thinking, where can I put the cue ball?” said Vafaei.

In the other quarter-final, four-time world champion John Higgins defeated Australia’s Neil Robertson, the 2010 Crucible king, 13-10 after falling 9-6 behind.

It was another gritty display from the veteran Scot who edged seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-12 in the previous round despite having been 8-3 and 9-4 down against the snooker great.

Higgins, 51 next month, was on the brink of victory against Robinson with a break of 53 in 23rd frame only to jaw a pot but, as happened several times in the match, he was fortunate not to leave anything easy on for his opponent.

After both under-pressure players missed pots they would normally make, Higgins succeeded with a tricky long red that paved the way for a match-clinching contribution and a semi-final against Murphy.

Earlier, Allen capitalised on an astonishing error by Barry Hawkins to book his place in the semi-finals for the second time in four years with a 13-11 win.

The match was heading for a deciding final frame after Hawkins fluked a red and was faced with a simple tap up behind the pink to leave Northern Ireland’s Allen in trouble.

But Hawkins, who lost in the 2013 final to O’Sullivan, somehow came up short with the cue ball, and his mistake paved the way for the 40-year-old Allen to clinch victory.