Judd Trump and John Higgins to meet in English Open semi-finals

Judd Trump will meet John Higgins in Saturday's English Open semi-final after defeating Matthew Selt 5-1 in Brentwood.

Trump reeled off four frames in a row, including breaks of 137 and 103, to remain in the hunt for his first ranking title since the Turkish Masters in March 2022.

He told the World Snooker Tour’s website: "I’ve had a good start to the season and it would be nice to convert one of these into a tournament win.

"When you lose, people think you’re not playing well. But they aren’t actually looking at how you played.

"I haven’t played my best yet, it’s there in spells. Hopefully I’ll save that for the semi-final and final."

Trump will next meet Higgins, who is set to contest his 82nd ranking event semi-final after cruising to a comfortable 5-1 victory against Martin O’Donnell.

The pair have faced each other in two World Snooker Championship finals, with Higgins winning the last of his four titles against the Englishman in 2011, while Trump triumphed in 2019.

Higgins told the WST: "I love playing Judd.

"He’s brought the best out in me certainly in some matches and I think I’ve done the same with him.

"I always love competing against him. He’s been a breath of fresh air for our game for so many years."

In the other quarter-finals Zhang Anda beat Zhou Yuelong 5-4 while Liu Hongyu sent Ding Junhui crashing out with a 5-2 success.