The Crucible curse has struck once again as reigning champion Zhao Xintong is beaten 13-10 in the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship.
No first time winner has defender their world title at the Crucible since the tournament moved to the Sheffield venue in 1977, but Zhao was tipped by many to break the infamous curse.
After strolling to his first world title 12 months ago, the Cyclone has had a superb season, winning three ranking events and another non-ranking title in Saudi Arabia.
The 29-year-old began the World Championship as a short-price favourite to lift the title again, but his defence has come to an end at the hands of the Magician.
Zhao becomes the 21st first time winner at the Crucible to fail to lift the trophy again the following year, joining every modern day legend, including Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis and John Higgins.
Not that an upset looked likely when Zhao raced into an early 3-0 lead, making a break of 122 in the opening frame of the contest.
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The world champion quickly went off the boil, though, with Murphy taking the next five frames to lead after the first session.
There was little in it during the second session on Tuesday night, but Zhao got the better of it, including a second century and the match was perfectly poised at 8-8 coming into Wednesday afternoon.
Neither man had really sparkled by this point and it felt like whoever could spark into life first would burst for the line and that was Murphy.
The 2005 world champion made breaks of 96, 80 and 70 to go one from victory at 12-9, with the champion struggling and on the ropes.
With any mistake potentially fatal, Zhao came out swinging with a superbly made 81 to keep his hopes alive, they were dashed in the next, though, as the Magician conjured up a break of 69, before getting over the line after some nervy exchanges.
Six-time champion Steve Davis was thoroughly impressed by Murphy in the final session, saying on the BBC: ‘It was nigh on the perfect session. A super human performance.’
It is Murphy’s first semi-final since 2021 and only his second since he reached the 2015 final.
Waiting for Murphy in the semi-finals will be either John Higgins or Neil Robertson, who play to a finish on Wednesday evening.
The Australian leads Higgins 9-7 after their first two sessions, with the match resuming at 7pm.
On the other side of the draw, Mark Allen is already into the semi-finals after beating Barry Hawkins 13-11 earlier on Wednesday.
The Pistol will play either Hossein Vafaei or Wu Yize – both bidding for their first Crucible semi-final – with their game finishing tonight.