No one has won more matches at the Crucible Theatre than Barry Hawkins in the last six years, but the Ditton potter is not thinking about Betfred World Snooker Championship glory just yet.

Hawkins reached the quarter-finals in Sheffield for a sixth year running with a hard-fought 13-10 win against Chinese starlet Lyu Haotian, in a high-quality contest.

He led 8-3 at one stage before 20-year-old Haotian pegged it back to 10-10, but Hawkins hit the accelerator and won the last three frames at a canter.

The 39-year-old has been to one final and three semis since finally making a sustained challenge for the title in 2013 – but he is yet to lift the trophy and is keen to avoid talk of it potentially happening this year.

“I am not thinking about winning it, there is too far to go," he said.

"We are not halfway through yet and look who else is still in the draw,” he said.

“If I get through the next match then maybe you can have half a think about it, but there is too far to go.

“I have had a few good results here and I want to keep that going. These last six years have gone so quick and it is only when people point it out that you sit back think about it.

“I am doing all right here, it is a great record to have. It is something to be proud of, but I have not won it and that is something I want to do.

"When I came off I was buzzing because I had just won but I was calm very quickly. You can’t get too excited, it is only the quarter-finals."

Hawkins will now face either Scotland’s Anthony McGill or Haotian’s Chinese compatriot Ding Junhui on Tuesday – the third seed and a fellow former finalist.

But he admits he is just glad to be there after digging deep against Haotian in a high-quality match which saw six centuries.

Haotian, who qualified to reach the main draw, played some inspired snooker to level the match – although he had a huge slice of luck when Hawkins set him up for the 20th frame by sending the white into the pocket off the pink.

“I am really pleased. He would not go away, I missed a couple of balls at 8-3 yesterday and he just kept potting them and did not look bothered at all,” Hawkins added.

“I could not shake him off. Apart from a couple of missed chances, I thought it was a really high standard.”

Watch the snooker World Championship LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with Colin Murray and analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds.