XI'AN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese snooker player Ding Junhui lost 5-3 to Shaun Murphy, while Lyu Haotian suffered a narrow 5-4 defeat against Mark Williams in the quarterfinals of the World Snooker Xi'an Grand Prix on Saturday.

Murphy, who had stunned Kyren Wilson 5-0 on Friday, fired a century break of 121 in the fourth frame against Ding to take a 3-1 lead before the interval.

After extending his advantage by winning the fifth frame, Murphy pushed Ding to the brink of elimination. The Chinese star fought back with a break of 93 in the seventh frame to close the gap to 4-3, but Murphy responded decisively with a 94 break in the eighth to seal the victory.

"Ding is one of the best players ever. So the match is always going to be difficult, and I think we both played well," Murphy said in the post-game press conference. "If Ding had won the eighth frame, and it had gone to a decider, it would have been 50-50," he added.

In the other quarterfinal, Lyu Haotian came from two frames down to level at 4-4, but Williams prevailed 62-7 in the decider to eliminate the Chinese player and set up a semifinal clash with Daniel Wells, who defeated Liam Pullen 5-2 earlier in the day.

Elsewhere, Gary Wilson beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 to book his place in the semifinals. ■