Northern Ireland's Joe Swail cut his overnight deficit in half to boost his chances of a Crucible quarter-final in the 888.com World Championship.

Swail trailed Chinese debutant Liang Wenbo 6-2 overnight but won five of the eight frames this morning to trail 9-7 going into tonight's final session.

The 38-year-old should have been in even better shape but missed the black off its spot in the 13th frame after looking set to complete a superb clearance.

That put Liang, conqueror of 1997 champion Ken Doherty in the first round, 8-5 in front but Swail regained his composure to win two of the last three frames with breaks of 71 and 92 to give himself a fighting chance of progressing to a last-eight showdown with either Ronnie O'Sullivan or Mark Williams.

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