After a week of surprise results at the Welsh Open, the final 16 seemed to settle into a more familiar pattern, though one young Scotsman was prepared to fight against the trend.
22-year old Scott Donaldson created the only shock of the fourth round as he defeated Mark Davis, before repeating the feat in the quarter-finals against Chinese hotshot Zhou Yuelong.
Donaldson to face Trump in his first ranking semi-final
Due to the nature of a thrilling few days in Cardiff, five players ranked outside the top 30 progressed to the final eight. Two of those met in the opening quarter-final as the lowest ranked player left, Donaldson, took on Yuelong who had seen off Lee Walker in the round previous. Yet the Scotsman made a mockery of his lowly position as he cruised past the World number 42 in straight frames.
After a break of 62 in the opener, a string of tidy tactical displays saw Donaldson ease through to the final four.
His opponent is World number four Judd Trump who had a much tougher route through to the weekend fixtures. After defeating World number 80 Hossein Vafaei Ayouri, Trump met the form player on the circuit Barry Hawkins. After going 3-1 ahead, Hawkins struck back with a hat-trick of half century breaks to take the lead. Though Trump responded to draw level before concluding a thrilling deciding frame with victory on the final black.
Bingham holds off Carrington response to meet Milkins in final four
2015 World champion Stuart Bingham had won 13 frames in a row, including whitewashes over Ian Burns and Robbie Williams, before reaching a hurdle at 4-0 up against Stuart Carrington. The World number 55 had only potted three reds during that time as he watched Bingham make three breaks between 68 and 103. Yet Carrington struck back with a trio of tactical successes to make Bingham uncomfortable as his mistake count mounted, before the World number two stumbled through a nervy eighth frame to eventually progress.
World number 32 Robert Milkins is not a usual suspect in the final four of ranking events but he eased through after a series of solid performances in Cardiff.
Following a victory over Mei Xiwen in the quarter-finals he was in good form against Kurt Maflin ranked 11 places below him. After the Norwegian went ahead with a break of 59, Milkins took a 3-1 lead with contributions of 71, 54 and 63. Maflin earned a consolation before Milkins cruised over the line with two tactical successes.