Ebdon is beaten in epic

Not one of the top eight players in snooker's rankings has made it into the quarter-finals of the UK Championship in York.

Stephen Lee completed the cull of the sport's elite when he beat 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon 9-8 and at No9 is the highest-ranked competitor left among the 12 still in the draw.

It is the first time it has happened in the competition's history.

Lee was 8-6 up but Ebdon clawed his way back to force the match into a deciding frame.

In a tense finale Ebdon, having been 58 points down, looked like squeezing through when needing only the last four colours to pinch it.

But he went in off the blue, which Lee potted to secure a clash with Steve Davis or Stephen Maguire.

"I was due some luck," said Lee. "I should have put him away earlier in the last frame but I'll take the win."

World Championship runner-up Graeme Dott went through with a 9-4 victory against Andy Hicks.

"I can't play much better than I did at the start of the match," said the 27-year-old Scot, who won the first six frames and will next face Barry Pinches or Joe Perry.

John Parrott, the 1991 world champion, made the last eight after a 9-5 win over Ricky Walden.

Parrott said: "I'm very pleased. I've gone back to how I played as a junior."