Judd Trump and Jackson Page scored quarter-final victories at the Huading Nylon World Open to set up a last four meeting in Yushan.
World number two and defending champion Trump earned his passage with a 5-2 defeat of Kyren Wilson.
Trump won the World Open the last time it was held in Yushan back in 2019, beating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the final.
The 34-year-old is hunting a fifth ranking title in what has already been a remarkable season. He won back-to-back events at the English Open, Wuhan Open and Northern Ireland Open last year and added the German Masters to his title tally last month.
With the scores locked at 2-2 this afternoon, Trump crucially claimed the fifth on the black to set up a charge for the line. Breaks of 59 and 63 helped him to take the following two frames and run out a 5-2 victor.
“There seems to be players I have a good record against recently. Kyren is one of them. It always helps when you know what you have to do. You have to turn up and be solid against him. It makes my job easy knowing I have to go out and play well."
Judd Trump
27-time Ranking Event Winner
Trump added: “I feel quite refreshed. Saudi was a disappointing performance, I didn’t play well out there. I scraped through my first game and felt a little bit rusty, although I was still practising but hadn’t played in that many tournaments over the last month and a half. It is nice to get a run here and I feel a lot more excited to play snooker than the last three or four seasons.
“I think Jackson has played brilliantly well. He’s scored heavily. From what I’ve seen, him and Ding have been the players of the tournament. He was on the next table to me there and seemed to be flying round the table. When you are young and playing well in this kind of scenario there is no better feeling. I’m the grumpy old man now trying to stop him.”
Welsh 22-year-old Page secured his progression with a 5-2 defeat of Elliot Slessor.
Page has produced sublime snooker so far this week, beating the likes of John Higgins and Mark Selby along the way. He came out to Yushan with his tour survival under threat, but has now extinguished any of those fears.
The world number 52 fired in breaks of 90, 140, 78, 76 and 87 during this afternoon’s tie. Page averaged just 16.9 seconds a shot as he blitzed to victory.
