Ditton's Barry Hawkins reached his third consecutive World Snooker Championship semi-final on Wednesday night, then admitted he is glad he does not have to play old nemesis Ronnie O'Sullivan this year.

The 36-year-old saw off 2010 Crucible champion Neil Robertson in an epic final session in a deciding frame to win 13-12 and set up a last-four clash with Shaun Murphy.

O'Sullivan has eliminated Hawkins from the tournament in each of the last two years, but with the five-time champion having bowed out on the adjacent table to Stuart Bingham, Hawkins now sees a clearer path to glory.

“Shaun is flying” he said. “He's had a great season. He's put in the hours practising and is getting the rewards. Everyone knows how attacking he is, but It's nice I'm not playing Ronnie in the semis."

Hawkins went in to the high-class final session with an 8-7 lead, but Robertson began with a break of 141 to level the score.

Hawkins then produced back-to-back centuries, but Robertson reduced the arrears with a break of 90.

The Australian levelled with a break of 65 and edged in front with a 142 clearance, but Hawkins levelled with the eighth century of the match – a record for a best of 25-frames encounter at the Crucible.

The pair shared frames 23 and 24 to set-up the nail-biting decider the contest deserved. It was error-strewn but Hawkins emerged victorious with a break of 61 and a big fist pump.

He said: “I thought I'd blown it in the final frame after he fluked the first red, but I didn't expect him to miss the brown and then I was just trying to pick the balls off."

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