Neil Robertson became the first Australian to reach the semi-finals of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship since 1982 with a convincing 13-8 defeat of Stephen Maguire.

The match resumed at 8-6 after the afternoon session that had to be curtailed early.

Robertson took the first three frames of the final session with a top run of 61. Maguire who has struggled throughout the match and hasn't shown the form that has taken him to four ranking titles, reduced his deficit with a 78 before the break.

The Bahrain Snooker Championship winner was soon in his stride once play resumed. This time the damage was done with his second century of the match, a 124 putting him one frame from victory. Robertson would become the first Australian since Eddie Charlton in 1982 to reach the last four.

Maguire appearing in his second consecutive Crucible quarter-final made him wait a little bit longer, a 71 allowed him to claw back another frame after Robertson has missed a red to a top pocket.

The Scot made the first break in the next, a 59 before missing with a thin cut on the pink. Robertson hit back with a 54 needing the pink and black but then got a kick on the pink. It left Maguire with a very thin cut but he too missed and the Australian pocketed pink and black to clench his last four spot.

The left-handed Robertson will now face the 2005 Champion, Shaun Murphy after he saw off the challenge of seven-time winner Stephen Hendry. The semi-final starts at 7pm on Thursday and the first to 17 frames will advance to the final.

Post match reaction

Neil Robertson

Throughout the whole match the key was playing the right shots all the time and frustrating him. The head to head meetings has got seven or eight behind. When I beat him in Bahrain it was the first time I've beaten him, I think it was 6-0 to him at the time those six times everytime I played him I was always lashing out a long balls, his safety was good and I was getting frustrated I didn't have the safety game to deal with him.

I think my safety was really good throughout the game. I put him under a lot of pressure. Tonight my long game was absolutely fantastic I think it must have killed him, I had three long reds in consecutive frames and cleared up everytime. I think that was a pretty big blow to him.

It's a great moment for me getting down to the one table situation, beating Stevie (Davis) quite convincingly, then Ali and Stephen beating them both 13-8 is really pleasing as well. To beat two players like that quite comfortably put's me in good stead for tomorrow.

I think the first session I was 5-3 up and he was actually having a big run of the ball but whenever something happened I managed to have a good frame after some really bad luck I think there were a few frames he won there where I had a kick or potted the blue. From 5-3 he's got it back to 5-5, with Stephen you've got to keep with him, once he gets ahead he very rarely gets pulled back.

Once I got to 8-6, 9-6 I was very confident I was going to win because he starts to get a little bit frustrated and a bit more aggressive which gave me a few more chances.

A really, really big game, I think this tournament's been great. The quarter-final line-up has been the strongest I've ever seen it since I've been a pro for five or six years. A lot of the younger players have come through to show their talent, players like Mark Allen, Ryan Day, Mark Selby is a terrific player. I think this year there won't be a surprise finalist as there has been for the last four or five years. I think the final will be really tight as well.

Shaun Murphy has done really well, he's one of the best players in the world, he's won the UK this season. We've had some really good games over the years. We've had a couple in the UK, both have been 9-8 and realy good games. I don't think this will be any different, we're both confident people, play a similiar type of game and should be a great match to watch.

Last season I was way too negative, played too many safety shots, looking at too many options on the table rather than going with my instincts. When I won two ranking titles I was playing a really aggressive game not too many safeties there wasn't any reason to as I was knocking all the long ones in despite what the experts said. I stopped taking on those balls and listening to them and I got too negative with my game. This season I've gone back to my game.

Stephen Maguire
When I won my second round match I said if I didn't improve I'd be going home, and I got worse. I've got no excuses. I played well in my first match, got dragged down in my second and that carried on into my third, the same as last year against Joe Perry. The exact same thing. That's why I'm sitting here. I was pure rubbish.

It was embarassing at times, when you're getting beat and you know you can't find anything deep down. He's not a slow player but we were both missing so they were long frames. I'm so disappointed in myself to get to the quarter-finals and never stand up to the challenge. I just gave him an easy path to the semis so I'm raging with myself. I'm only good for 2 or 3 matches a season, somehow I'm number 2 in the world but I don't know why because I'm playing like number 102. It's something I have to work on, I get easily bored.

I was fighting towards the end but the damage was done. I don't know why I can't play well. At 8-6 down, I still had a fighting chance but knew if he started to play well I would struggle because I didn't have it in me to reel off 4 or 5 frames, I would have to scrap it out.