LIANG WENBO believes he can win the Betway UK Championship title.

The Chinese player came through an epic quarter-final clash 6-5 with Marco Fu and immediately declared his confidence that he could go all the way at the York Barbican.

Wenbo, branded "boring" by the vanquished Tom Ford in his previous match, was anything but in his last eight encounter - reeling off three centuries in a row in an electric start to the encounter.

Fu pegged him back from 5-2 behind and took the match to a final frame shootout but Wenbo revealed he told himself to stay calm as he edged his way into the last four of one of the big three BBC tournaments for the first time.

Asked whether he now thought he could win, he said: "Of course, I try and will just enjoy it. I've got confidence in myself."

Wenbo added: "It was a very tough game. I started unbelievably - three centuries in the first three frames and I don't know how. I just concentrated on playing. In the fourth frame, I still had a chance but I missed an easy pink and made 49 and my friend Marco cleared up.

"After the mid-session, he put me under a lot of pressure. I was 5-2 up and I missed an easy pink. He cleared up and - all through the match - he gave me a lot of pressure.

"In the last frame, I thought 'maybe I lose' and I was thinking 'calm down' . My coach beforehand told me that when there is big pressure you need to think and just enjoy.

"You just have to get ready and enjoy playing. Win or lose, it doesn't matter. We and Marco, we are friends and we just wanted to give a good game."

A shell-shocked Fu barely had a shot at the start of the match as Wenbo produced remarkable breaks of 106, 132 and 138. He looked odds-on to notch a fourth too, only to break down on 49.

Having been stuck in his chair throughout, Fu somehow put together a composed reply in the circumstances - a frame-winning 64 taking him into the mid-session interval 3-1 adrift.

He narrowed that gap on the resumption but Wenbo again found another gear, a run of 67 taking him to the brink of victory at 5-2.

But Fu dug deep again and managed to level the match with runs of 79, 67 and 49.

In a tense finale to a dramatic encounter, though, he just could not get over the line.

Wenbo added: "I'm in the semi-final. It's the next match. I will try hard, work hard and I want to do well. Everybody has got a chance but you need to be ready. I will have a good sleep, good food and be happy."

Fu said: "It was a good match. Liang was doing most of the scoring. Most of the good snooker was from him. It's very tough to play against a player that is feeling so well - 3-1 up and making three centuries in a row - and it was very difficult for me.

"I just tried to win the close frames, make some good clearances when he missed a few but he didn't miss a lot so I was very glad that I got to 5-5 in the end but it doesn't mean much now.

"I didn't miss that many. He just played immaculate snooker. I think that's probably the best I have ever seen him play - in the first few frames. It was very cruel."