Masters 2018: Judd Trump beats Shaun Murphy in quarter-finals

Judd Trump held off a comeback from Shaun Murphy to win 6-4 and move into the Masters semi-finals.

Breaks of 57, 60, 61 and 91 helped Trump, 28, into a 4-2 lead after six frames at Alexandra Palace.

But Murphy, who won the competition in 2015, won the next two frames thanks to scores of 95 and 59 to bring it level.

However, Trump made century breaks of 111 and 113 to set up a semi-final on Saturday against Kyren Wilson, who beat two-time champion Mark Williams 6-1.

Trump was on course to make a break of 140, which would have been the highest of the tournament, but missed the green, meaning Liang Wenbo's 139 against Trump in the first round remains the best in this year's Masters.

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"At 4-4 I'm proud of the bottle I showed and I knew I had to produce in one visit in the last two frames," said Trump.

"The first five frames were too slow for us and we did not play our natural games and it got a bit careless, but towards the end you saw the real Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump.

"My results this season have been pretty good but I have not played at a good standard and my 'B' game is better now.

"I've not played Kyren much, he is a tough player and very attacking. When he gets on a hot spell he will get to finals again and again. Hopefully he has a bad game tomorrow. I think he's probably the favourite the way he's playing."

Two-time winner John Higgins plays Wales' Ryan Day in the last quarter-final on Friday (19:00 GMT), with the winner facing Mark Allen after the Northern Irishman beat 2017 champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1.

'Who likes wasps?'

There was a bizarre incident in the first session as a wasp bothered both players and stopped play, with Murphy especially animated.

"I'm terrified of wasps, who isn't? Who likes wasps? What are they for, why are they here?" said Murphy, laughing, as he spoke to BBC Radio 5 live after the match.

"Why are they in that room? I've no idea. It's one of the problems playing in buildings like this that have holes everywhere."

Shaun Murphy was bothered by a wasp at Alexandra Palace during the first session of the match

Analysis

Steve Davis, three-time Masters winner, on BBC TV:

Even though Judd won't be over the moon at his play, he will pleased he got his head right at the end of the match.

Shaun will be generally disappointed with his overall standard and he had been putting in some good performances recently. But in a best of 11 frame match against another good player, you know sometimes it will not be your day.

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