Welsh number one and World Championship fifth seed Jonny Clayton was beaten 5-2 at the quarter-final stage by Ryan Searle.

Searle, the 20th seed in the prestigious competition, had won 14 consecutive sets without reply to reach his first World Championship quarter-final.

The 38-year-old extended that run to 17 with some clinical finishing in the first three sets against Jonny Clayton.

A 111 finish in the deciding leg of the fifth – one of his three ton-plus checkouts in the match – helped to secure a spot in the last four.

Clayton scored better for long spells of the quarter-final but too many missed attempts on the outer ring proved costly for the Welsh fifth seed, who landed only 10 of his 40 attempts at doubles.

Searle, in contrast, hit 17 of his 30 attempts.

“It’s a special feeling,” admitted Searle, who provisionally moves into the world’s top eight for the first time in his career.

“My scoring wasn’t great today, but I felt like in the high-pressure moments, I was finding some really good finishes.

“There’s a lot of pressure on you and it’s hard to perform under that, but I’m proud of myself to get over the line and we’ll see where we go tomorrow.”

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