Barry Hawkins resisted a fightback as he clinched a 6-4 victory over Wu Yize to reach the Welsh Open final for the second time in his career.
‘The Hawk’ started the last-four encounter in Llandudno strongly, winning four of the first five frames – with 72 and 66 breaks among the Englishman’s highlights.
But China’s Wu, 22, responded in stunning fashion to level the match at 4-4 by reeling off three consecutive frames thanks to a pair of half-centuries and a 122 break in the eighth frame.
Despite an impressive 59 break from Wu, Hawkins edged a thrilling ninth frame to regain the lead.
And the 46-year-old completed the job efficiently to book his place in Sunday’s final.
