Kent's Barry Hawkins is in the last eight of the World Championships

An emotional Barry Hawkins could not conceal his delight after he achieved the biggest win of his career to knock out world No.1 Mark Selby in the second round of the World Championships.

Hawkins trailed Selby, the reigning UK and Masters champion, 9-6 at one point in their last-16 clash but in an inconsistent encounter in Sheffield he eventually emerged a 13-10 winner.

The 33-year-old, from Ditton, is enjoying the best 18 months of his career as the reigning Australian Open Champion but he had never previously been beyond the second round at the Crucible in seven attempts.

But after deservedly seeing off Selby, one of the favourites for the title, a choked up Hawkins admitted it was a dream come true to make the last eight.

“This is one of the best results of my life,” he said.

“I can’t believe I'm getting emotional, you would have thought that I had won the world title, not just made it to the quarters.

“But I'm just lost for words to be honest, I’ll be the first to admit that it was not the prettiest of matches.

“Both of us were struggling to get any rhythm going out there, Mark likes those sort of matches and I had to fight so hard, it felt like a pint of blood went into every shot.

“So to come through means so much to me, I’ve never been this far before.”

Next up for Hawkins (right) in the quarters will be either Ding Junhui, the Chinese two-time UK Champion, or qualifier Mark King, their second round clash finishes on Monday.

Along with Selby, title contenders like Neil Robertson, John Higgins and Stephen Maguire have all exited the draw before the quarter-finals.

And with a place in the semis, and the legendary one-table set-up at the Crucible, up for grabs Hawkins feels he has a great chance to continue his run.

“Everybody that is left in the tournament now has to feel like they have a chance of winning it,” he added.

“Otherwise why would you bother turning up at all? If I can find my form you never know what can happen.

“I will need to be better than I was out there against Mark but I just did enough to get through that match.

“I have that confidence in myself now, especially since I have been working with Terry (Griffiths), because it was upstairs that was always the problem with me.

“But now I feel much better equipped for these big tournaments and I'm excited to have a bit of a rest and get ready.”

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