World Snooker Championship 2013: Trump wins Murphy thriller

Judd Trump completed a fine comeback against Shaun Murphy to advance to the World Snooker Championship semi-finals at the Crucible.

The 23-year-old was 8-3 down at one stage on Tuesday but won the last five frames of the second session to level.

The match went down to a dramatic 53-minute deciding frame but Trump held his nerve to prevail 13-12.

He will meet four-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, who beat Stuart Bingham 13-4, in the last four.

But Trump says the prospect of facing O'Sullivan is not a daunting one.

"I've got a good record against Ronnie," said Trump. "I've beaten him more times than he's beaten me (6-5), hopefully I can go out and scare him.

"He's been in charge in all of his games so he's got an air of invincibility that I probably had a couple of years ago. The way my game's matured I think I can crack him.

"There's only a certain amount of players who have got the self-belief and confidence to beat Ronnie, and I'm one of them.

"He's had an easy route through and he's a massive favourite, I'm just going to go out and enjoy it. "

On Tuesday, 2005 champion Murphy rattled in five half-century breaks to lead an out-of-sorts Trump 6-2 after the first session.

And Bristol-born Trump was fortunate to be only four frames behind after pinching the seventh frame - a frame that Murphy should have won - on the final black.

Murphy started the second session in confident mood, knocking in an assured 91 to pull further ahead, before Trump responded with a 93 of his own.

Trump, runner-up in 2011, then lost a scrappy third after going in off a red, before launching his dramatic recovery.

A superb 118 in frame 14 left Murphy reeling and when the world number four somehow missed a red over the pocket, Trump pounced to win his fourth frame on the bounce.

Both players had their chances in the deciding frame of the evening but Trump held his nerve after a lengthy safety exchange to set up a nail-biting final session.

Trump took the first frame on Wednesday before Murphy levelled with a 128 clearance and retook the lead with a break of 70. Trump levelled with a break of 77 and nicked the next to move 11-10 ahead.

The 22nd frame was a pivotal one, with Trump miscuing on the pink before missing an easy pot and allowing Murphy to make it 11-11.

Trump quickly regained his poise, rattling in a break of 90 to move to within one frame of the semi-finals, only for Murphy to set up a grandstand finish courtesy of a quick-fire break of 88.

The players exchanged a warm handshake before the deciding frame but the next 53 minutes were not for the faint-hearted.

Murphy potted three long reds but was unable to finish on a colour and with the reds scattered, it turned into a marathon safety exchange.

The frame looked to be slipping away from Murphy after Trump laid a superb snooker behind the blue but he was unable to clean up.

There followed some more excruciating tit-for-tat exchanges but it was Murphy who blinked first, leaving a potable red which Trump gratefully gobbled up.

Trump eschewed a difficult black which would have taken him over the line, instead laying a snooker, but potted a good yellow to leave Murphy needing snookers and Trump made no mistakes when Murphy left him in.

Murphy said: "He played unbelievable from 8-3.

"I lost five on the bounce but I felt I played better in the evening session than I did in the morning. I felt he won those frames, I don't feel like I lost them.

"He's grown up with Ronnie, has practiced with him and knows his game inside out, if anybody's got a chance of beating him, it's him."