Shaun Murphy ended John Higgins' winning streak with a 5-3 victory in the last eight of the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, setting up an epic semi-final with Neil Robertson who saw off Xiao Guodong by the same scoreline.
Matches / Tickets / How To Watch
Two former World Champions with 20 years experience of winning tournaments, Murphy and Robertson will go head to head on Saturday afternoon at the Kai Tak Arena. They are both chasing the £180,000 top prize, a record for this event.
Higgins' confidence was sky-high after his landmark triumph at the Weide Cup World Open last week as well as his second round victory here over Kyren Wilson. But, playing a record 147th ranking event quarter-final, the Scot's run was ended by Johnstone's Paint Masters champion Murphy who goes into his 53rd ranking semi-final and remains on target for a 13th ranking title and first since the 2023 Championship League.
Both Murphy and Robertson came into this week in danger of missing out on a top 16 seeding for the Crucible next month. But in earning a guaranteed £35,000 they have strengthened their positions in that race, particularly as they are both on target to qualify for both the Sportsbet.io Players Championship and Sportsbet.io Tour Championship, which will bring a further total guarantee of £35,000.
Higgins took a 2-1 lead today, making breaks of 68 in the opening frame and 64 in third. World number 12 Murphy responded with a 143 total clearance, equalling Higgins' target for the £10,000 high break prize. After the interval, Murphy got the better of two fragmented frames to lead 4-2, and although Higgins pulled one back with a run of 59, Murphy sealed the result in frame eight with a superb 112.
"It's always tough against John, especially just after he has won a massive tournament and got that renewed sense of purpose," said 42-year-old Murphy. "It was played in good spirits as it always is with John. It's an honour to share the stage with him, I have always looked up to him and he has been teaching me since I was a teenager."
Murphy beat Robertson on his way to Masters success in January, while the Australian came out on top en route to landing the BetVictor English Open title in September. England's Murphy is looking forward to their third meeting of the season, adding: "Myself and Neil have been putting on good matches for most of our careers. It's no surprise we're at this stage of the event. It's the best 32 players of the season here and it's great to see the line up for the weekend."
Robertson reached his first ranking semi-final since that English Open victory with an impressive fight back against China's Xiao. Breaks of 54 and 99 gave Xiao the first two frames, then Robertson replied with a run of 92 but lost frame four on the colours.
World number 19 Robertson stormed back with 80, 65, 101 and 80 to take four frames in a row and reach his 52nd ranking semi-final. He has converted 24 of his previous 51 into ranking titles, a strike rate twice as good as tomorrow's opponent.
"At 3-1 down I regrouped and came out strong," said Robertson. "The only disappointing thing was missing the 147 chance (in frame five when he potted ten reds with blacks before missing a tough 11th red) because it would have been great to make one here. But I'm really pleased with the way I finished the match.
"Shaun and I are both having a good season. We're seeing the in-form players doing well this week so hopefully it will be the semi-final line up that the crowds would have wanted to see."