Barry Hawkins given reality check as Marco Fu surges ahead

Meanwhile John Higgins narrowly trails Alan McManus in the battle of the Scots

After the high of his win over Ronnie O’Sullivan, Barry Hawkins came crashing down to earth on Tuesday at the Crucible.

Hawkins withstood a stirring fightback by O’Sullivan from 12-9 to win a final-frame decider on Monday night and reach a World Championship quarter-final against Marco Fu.

But it was a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ as he fell 7-1 behind in Tuesday afternoon’s opening session.

He had warned after his win over O’Sullivan that: “I’ve got another really tough game against Marco so I will just concentrate on that. If Marco gets going he can score as well as anybody.”

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So it proved as Fu swept the four frames before the interval with breaks of 73 in the first and 76 in the fourth, Hawkins having potted only 10 balls with his highest break to that point just 13.

And when Hawkins missed a simple red early in the first frame back, Fu cleared with 81 to go 5-0 up before Hawkins got on the board in frame six.

A 66 and a 50 clearance clinched frame seven for Fu and he added the last of the session for a comprehensive lead.

On the other table John Higgins, a 13-8 winner over Ricky Walden in the last 16, came from behind to lead fellow Scot Alan McManus 5-3.

After an opening 63 from Higgins, McManus led 3-1 at the interval, helped by a 114 in frame two and a 95 per cent pot success rate.

But Higgins levelled before a 75 break took him 4-3 ahead and he also took frame eight in two visits.

Kyren Wilson, bidding to become the first qualifier to win the title since Shaun Murphy in 2005, earlier fell 6-0 down in his quarter-final against world number one Mark Selby before winning the last two frames to give himself hope. Selby had breaks of 101 and 99.

There was also a 6-2 lead for Ding Junhui, himself a qualifier this year after dropping out of the world’s top 16, against Mark Williams. That match and the Wilson-Selby encounter continue in the evening session.