John Higgins is into the semi-finals of his home event after avenging his three ranking defeats of the season against Ronnie O'Sullivan, with a 5-0 whitewash of O'Sullivan in Friday evening's quarter-final.
Higgins was in unbelievable and received a standing ovation from the adoring Glasgow fans as he completely overpowered last week's UK Champion. Starting off with a 55 break to win the opener, he then fired in three successive centuries, with a 109 and a 117 being followed by a run of 105 to put him 4-0 in front at the mid-session interval in no time at all.
O'Sullivan looked like getting a frame on the board in the fifth as he went 60-0 in front, but what followed was one of the Scottish number one's trademark clearances, with a break of 72 finishing the job and seeing Higgins send O'Sullivan out at this stage of the Scottish Open for a second year running.
Higgins will now face Neil Robertson in the semi-finals, after the Australian booked his place in the last four of a ranking event for the first time in 14 months with a deciding frame success against Xiao Guodong. Despite some of the superb scoring displayed by Robertson, he could not shake off the Chinese star and there was never more than a frame between the two in this one.
Xiao opened up with a run of 63 before Robertson levelled with a break of 72. Runs of 57 and 62 in the third frame put Xiao ahead again at 2-1, but then came the first of three tons in the match for the 2010 world champion as he took them to the interval at 2-2. He was straight back in after that break and it was if he had not been off the table at all as he smashed in a brilliant 128 break to lead for the first time at 3-2. Xiao was unfazed by his opponent's brilliance though and put together a contribution of 51 in the sixth to level things up at 3-3.
Century number three for Robertson came in the seventh as he went a frame from victory at 4-3 with a great run of 118. Again Xiao's head did not go down and held strong with an excellent 73 forcing the decisive frame. However, it was Robertson who calved himself a golden chance in the decider with a stunning long red and from that he never looked like giving his opponent another chance. The vital break on this occasion totalled 79 and that was more than enough to secure his semi-final place.
Judd Trump is the leading man in the bottom half of the draw after he saw off Stephen Maguire 5-2 in front of his home fans. Breaks of 102 and 84 helped Trump into a 3-1 lead at the mid-session break but Maguire was not short of chances in the opening four frames. Again he had chances in the fifth but when that went Trump's way to make it 4-1 the match looked over. A fantastic 90 break kept Maguire in the clash and he had chances again in the seventh to really put the pressure on Trump, but he could not capitalise and Trump was over the line 5-2.
Trump will now face China's Cao Yupeng who saw off Ricky Walden in the final quarter-final of the day. Walden was not at the races in the early parts of the match and Cao had runs of 89 and 56 as he surged into a 3-0 lead. Walden took a vital fourth frame on the black to keep himself in with a chance, before taking the frame after the interval to close to within one at 2-3. However, he was left frustrated in the sixth with a few missed balls that allowed Cao to move two clear again at 2-4, and it looked for all the world like Cao would win 5-2 until he missed a red into the middle just a few pots away from winning. His error left all the balls on for Walden who cleared with 73 to keep himself in the hunt, but Cao dominated the eighth and would eventually run out a 5-3 winner.
Quarter-Final results:
Neil Robertson 5-4 Xiao Guodong
John Higgins 5-0 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Cao Yupeng 5-3 Ricky Walden
Judd Trump 5-2 Stephen Maguire
Semi-Final draw:
John Higgins Vs Neil Robertson
Judd Trump Vs Cao Yupeng
The first best-of-11 frame semi-final sees a repeat of the European Masters in October as Trump faces Cao. Baring in mind Cao's career best ranking event performance before the start of this season was a quarter-final at the 2013 Wuxi Classic, he has had a stunning season to reach what is his second semi-final of the season and push himself up to 20th on the provisional one season money list. He has been in fine form this week making a maximum 147 break in his round one whitewash of Andrew Higginson and he has overcome good players in Tom Ford and Ricky Walden since then.
Trump though was too good for Cao in Lommel running out a 6-1 winner there despite losing the opening frame and he looks to have picked up his form again this week. Despite a good start to the week, he still needed a deciding frame to see off Elliot Slessor in the last 16 and Maguire had more than enough chances to make the quarter-final a closer contest. If Cao can put his nerves to one side and play solidly as he has done this week, he should offer Trump a good challenge.
Then in the evening we have home favourite John Higgins bidding for back-to-back Scottish Open finals but he will have to continue his excellent form if he is to see off the heavy scoring Neil Robertson. The head-to-head between the two, with league matches taken out of the equation, stands at 6-6 and it looks like a match-up that could go all the way, just as it did in their last meeting when Robertson won 6-5 in the 2015 UK Championship quarter-finals. Higgins looks to have found an extra gear this week, which has possibly been brought on by playing in front of his home fans and the determination to go one better than last year.
To reach the semi-finals he has only dropped two frames in five matches and compiled a magnificent seven century breaks. Robertson has had a couple of closer games needing a decider in the quarter-finals, coming from 2-0 down in the last 16 and digging deep in the last 64 to win the final two frames of a 4-2 win against Liam Highfield, but he too looks to have taken it up a notch and is scoring superbly also. His century count for the week is one better than Higgins with an astonishing eight tons from the 21 frames the players have won to reach this point. If that sort of form continues here, it will be incredibly difficult to separate the two, but with the crowd behind him and a bit of an edge on Robertson in the safety department, Higgins will be a tough man to beat.
Whatever happens these should be two great semi-finals and it will surely be a fantastic final as well on Sunday with the cream rising to the top in Glasgow.
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