eventual champion Dott. Paul Hunter's first round defeat to Neil Robertson would turn out to be his last match as a professional. He was playing in pain from chemotherapy treatment for a rare form of stomach cancer. He eventually died of the disease on 9 October 2006. Six time finalist Jimmy White made his last appearance in the televised stage of the World Championships in this tournament. He lost 10–5 to David Gray in the opening round. In the last frame of the first round match between Stephen Hendry and Nigel Bond, Bond potted the black for what would have been a win, but the cue ball dropped in a middle pocket to tie the frame at 48–48. Bond still won, after the re-spotted black. This was the first match in the history of the World Championship that a match was decided on a re-spotted black. The Crucible Theatre was evacuated due to a fire alarm. This occurred at the end of a frame 11 in the match between Steve Davis and Shaun Murphy. Meanwhile, on the other table Mark Selby was playing Mark Williams and was on a break of 26 when required to leave. Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled the highest break of the tournament with a 140 in his 13–10 win over Ryan Day. In the quarter-finals Graeme Dott was 12–8 up with only one more frame required to reach the semi-final of the tournament. First time quarter-finalist Neil Robertson then won the next four frames to level the match at 12–12 and take the match to the deciding frame, which Graeme won, after Neil was left needing a with only the pink and black left and ended up accidentally potting the pink instead of setting up a snooker. Marco Fu defeated Ken Doherty 13–10 and became the first player from Asia since James Wattana in 1997 to reach the semi-finals. Defending world champion Shaun Murphy lost to Peter Ebdon in the quarter-finals. This was the second year in a row that Peter Ebdon defeated the defending world champion in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals Ebdon was 15–9 up and needed just 2 frames to go through to the final. Fu won the next six frames to level the match at 15–15. Eventually Ebdon won 17–16, playing the final balls with tears in his eyes. The tip of O'Sullivan's cue came off during the 14th frame of his semi-final