SHEFFIELD (England), April 29: Peter Ebdon moved within two frames of the world snooker championship final with a 15-9 lead over Hong Kong's Marco Fu on Friday.

World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan and Scotland's Graeme Dott were locked at 8-8 in the other semifinal.

Ebdon resumed with a 9-7 lead and got a century break in the opening frame of the evening session before moving six frames ahead at 13-7. Fu won the next two frames to stop the rot.

The Englishman continued to pile on the pressure, however, claiming the last two frames before the close of play to edge closer to his third world final.

O’Sullivan, resuming with a 5-3 advantage, briefly lost the lead as Dott won the opening three frames to go 7-6 up.

There was controversy after frame 14, with the score at 7-7, when O’Sullivan seemed to remove the tip from his cue resulting in a 15-minute break that allowed him to put on a new tip.

O’Sullivan told tournament director Mike Ganley the tip had been coming off and he was forced to accept the Englishman's explanation as television evidence was inconclusive.

The change did not affect O’Sullivan, however, as he compiled a break of 124 immediately after the re-start.

Dott, who responded with a break of 74 to make it all-square, showed his displeasure by turning away from O’Sullivan as the pair shook hands before leaving the arena.

Latest scores on Friday:

Semifinals (best of 33 frames): Peter Ebdon (England) leads Marco Fu (Hong Kong) 15-9 (0-130, 76-55, 6-62, 92-5, 93-1, 24-57, 103-28, 42-62, 81-17, 108-16, 5-61, 94-1, 75-38, 54-56, 101-1, 67-70, 122-0, 77-47, 66-1, 93-5, 8-75, 24-62, 80-8, 86-20); Graeme Dott (Scotland) is level with Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) 8-8 (121-0, 11-85, 95-8, 10-75, 14-76, 28-63, 40-73, 72-44, 67-47, 85-38, 72-23, 19-76, 33-66, 87-22, 0-124, 74-49).—Reuters