Defending champion Zhao Xintong was knocked out of the World Snooker Championship on Wednesday, losing his quarter-final 13-10 to Shaun Murphy. Zhao, 29, was the first Chinese player to be crowned world champion when he beat three-time winner Mark Williams 18-12 in last year’s final. Murphy’s victory means the Englishman is now just two wins away from a second world title, 21 years after lifting snooker’s most prestigious trophy. Zhao’s defeat meant he became the latest player to succumb to the “curse of the Crucible”. No first-time world champion has retained the title the following year since the tournament moved to Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 1977. He established an early 3-0 lead only for the 43-year-old Murphy to come back powerfully into the best of 25 frames contest. “Shaun played really well, he gave me big pressure and played perfect snooker today,” Zhao told the BBC. “He deserved to win. “I felt some pressure [as defending champion] but I still felt alright.…