Judd Trump holds off Kyren Wilson fightback to reach UK Championship semi-final

Judd Trump reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship after surviving Kyren Wilson’s stirring fightback to win 6-4 in Milton Keynes.

World number one Trump, who won the tournament in 2011, was made to dig deep by Wilson who fought back from 3-0 down to level the match at 3-3 and then 4-4.

Trump will play Lu Ning in the last four on Saturday after the Chinese world number 40 beat Joe Perry 6-4.

“It was tough,” said Trump, who made two century breaks and four more over 50. “Especially at 4-4. He was in the balls, he was looking like he had a good chance to go 5-4 up really.

“So I was delighted he missed the blue and left me that opportunity and I knew it was my time.

“If I missed there I was probably going to lose the match because my confidence was kind of knocked by what happened.”

Neil Robertson will play China’s Zhou Yuelong in the other semi-final after producing his best display of the season to beat Mark Selby 6-2.

Robertson made breaks of 75, 122 and 63 to race into a 3-0 lead and although Selby pulled it back to 3-2, the Australian potted a superb long red before clearing up with 56 to go 4-2 ahead.

“From start to finish that was very good, it was one of my best performances of the season, probably the best,” Robertson said. “I played some fantastic stuff to go 3-0 up.”

Zhou, 22, thrashed 9-0 by Robertson in the European Masters final in January, reached the semi-finals of a Triple Crown event for the first time with a 6-4 win against Jack Lisowski.

World number 25 Zhou secured his second straight win against a top-16 opponent after knocking out John Higgins in the previous round.