Shaun Murphy, winner of the Players Tour Championship in Dublin three weeks ago, continued his pursuit of back-to-back world-ranking titles by beating John Higgins 5-2 to reach the semi-finals of the China Open in Beijing.

From 2-2 the world No1 scored only 28 points in the last three frames. Murphy's semi-final opponent will be the 21-year-old Bristol left-hander Judd Trump, a 5-1 winner over Peter Ebdon.

Trump made 130 at his first visit to the table and outpointed the former world champion 381-10 in leading 4-0. Mark Selby, twice Masters champion, also scored heavily, recording breaks of 139, 130 and 120 in defeating Ali Carter 5-1.

Ding Junhui, who won the title six years ago as an 18-year-old wild card, completed the semi-final line-up with a 5-2 win over Stephen Lee, crucially stealing the fifth frame for a 4-1 lead after needing a snooker when trailing 69-0.