An emotional Mark King clawed on all of his 25 years of tournament experience to fight off Judd Trump and book a place in his 2nd home nations semi final. King who has been very vocal about the lack of earning opportunities held himself together extremely well to close out the match by 5 frames to 3. King spoke to however you like to break’s reporter Curtis Braithwaite after the match and said “ I’m absolutely delighted to get through today! It’s been so tough with all these qualifiers for tournaments that are next year but we still have to find expenses without any money coming in so it adds even more pressure out there so I’m proud of how I held myself together because I was feeling it out there big time”.

Ronnie O’Sullivan stormed into the semi finals with a 5-1 victory over Luca Brecel. This week Ronnie has been very vocal about the problems with his tip but he looks to be cueing as well as ever and really in tune with himself and his game. Ronnie spoke after the match and said “This tip still doesn’t feel right but I know I’m hitting the ball very well so I’m just trying to concentrate on getting through the ball well and staying focused”.

Neil Robertson was never ahead in his battle with the excellent Kyren Wilson until pipping him by a 5-4 scoreline. From 4-3 down Robertson fired in breaks of 126 and 70 to book his place in the semi final and will now face Essex cueist Mark King for a place in his second successive English open final.

John Higgins booked a mouth watering semi final showdown with Ronnie O’Sullivan after squeezing past Yan Bingtao by a 5-3 scoreline. Higgins raced into a 4-0 lead only for Yan to win the next 3 frames to close the deficit to 4-3 but it was Higgins who held his nerve to clinch victory.

Quarter final scores

Mark King 5-3 Judd Trump
Neil Robertson 5-4 Kyren Wilson
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Luca Brecel
John Higgins 5-3 Yan Bingtao

Semi final best of 11

Ronnie O’Sullivan vs John Higgins 1pm

Mark King vs Neil Robertson 7pm