Kyren Wilson edges out Luca Brecel to set up Judd Trump semi-final at Masters
Shaun Murphy will play fellow former champion Mark Allen in the other last-four tie.
Kyren Wilson edged out Luca Brecel 6-4 in an enthralling encounter at the Masters to set up a semi-final clash with world number one Judd Trump.
World champion Wilson kept his nose in front after opening up an early 2-0 lead and outlasted Brecel in a see-saw contest, which had a scrappy, dogged ending.
Shaun Murphy, tournament winner in 2015, will play 2018 champion Mark Allen in the other last-four tie.
Wilson cashed in on early errors by Brecel to take control with the help of scores of 71 and 67 and although the Belgian responded with a 96 break, he fell 3-1 behind at the mid-session interval.
Brecel cut the deficit to 3-2 with a score of 84, but Wilson pounced on another error in frame six when his opponent went in off to compile a 79 break and go 4-2 up.
Frame seven featured a re-rack and a cagey safety battle before Wilson missed a red with the rest and Brecel made a score of 83 to make it 4-3.
A brilliant long red helped Wilson edge 5-3 ahead, but Brecel pulled back to within one frame for a fourth time after clearing the colours and only a missed pink in the final frame denied him what would have been a superb clearance, allowing the world number two to seal victory.
Trump cruised into the semi-finals earlier on Friday after beating Ding Junhui 6-3 in a brilliant display.
The world number one reeled off five successive frames after trailing 3-1, making breaks of 97 and 125 to go with four more half-centuries as he set up a showdown against Wilson.
Ding, who won the tournament 14 years ago, made successive breaks of 70 and 74 to open up a 2-0 lead before being punished for missing a long red in the third, with Trump compiling a 75 to reduce the deficit.
The 37-year-old Chinese regained his two-frame advantage to lead 3-1 at the interval, making a clearance of 72 after Trump had faltered during a break of 49.
But Trump hit back with a score of 97 in the fifth frame and levelled the match at 3-3 with another half-century break after Ding had missed an easy red with the rest.
Trump maintained his momentum and a superb 125 break – the fourth-highest of the tournament – put him into the lead for the first time before he raced to victory with two more half-century breaks.
