Hawkins finds going tough against Fu at the Crucible

AFTER the high of his win over Ronnie O’Sullivan, Barry Hawkins came crashing down to earth yesterday 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 yesterday 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.”

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.