Snooker World Championships 2015: Anthony McGill's amazing run finally ended by Shaun Murphy

The Crucible debutant had claimed the scalps of Stephen Maguire and defending champion Mark Selby to reach the quarter-finals

Shaun Murphy is targeting a second world title after securing his place in the semi-finals in style (PA)

Shaun Murphy has joined Judd Trump in the World Championship semi-finals after ending the title hopes of giant-killer Anthony McGill.

Qualifier McGill had knocked out Stephen Maguire and defending champion Mark Selby to reach the quarter-finals on his Crucible debut. But Murphy had the Scot’s measure and the winner from 2005 moved a step closer to an elusive second title in Sheffield with a 13-8 victory, sealed with a 67 break.

Three centuries – and the way he accelerated away from 6-6 – showed Murphy is a man to fear. Next up for him will be Neil Robertson or Barry Hawkins.

Meanwhile, Barry Hearn has revealed snooker stars will play for a £1million bonus bounty in a new Home Series and promised that Crucible champions will be made richer than ever. The chairman of World Snooker announced the Welsh Open, already on the calendar, will be joined by a Scottish Open, an Irish Open and an English Open for the 2016-17 campaign.

And Hearn, speaking at the Crucible, promised any player who won all four in the same season would cash in with the million-pound cheque.

All four events will be full ranking tournaments and will have to be crammed into an already busy calendar, along with a new European Open event, which will also come on to the schedule at the same time.

Hearn called the bonus his “little, special prize” and said Glasgow, Belfast and Manchester would stage the three new United Kingdom events.

He added that prize money for the World Championship winner would shoot up from its current £300,000 to £500,000 for the 2018 tournament.

PA