John Higgins and Ken Doherty will contest the first of this year's Malta Cup semi-finals.
World champion Higgins was the first player through to the knockout phase with his 5-1 victory over Cambridgeshire cueman Joe Perry earlier today.
And Doherty joined him in the semis after he beat Australian Neil Robertson 5-1 at the Hilton Conference Centre to secure his safe passage.
'It was good to win the first couple of frames because it relaxed me, they were good frames to win, reflected Doherty.
'Once I'd won the third frame, it was just a bit of fun. I was through and he couldn't qualify, so it was nice to have a little bit of fun.
'We're trying our heart to win, but it was nice to have a bit of banter and too involve the crowd. Snooker is about entertainment like any sport.'
Doherty won two scrappy opening frames to lead 2-0 and then pocketed a 51 break to win the final frame he needed for a place in the next round.
A cool run of 81 followed as the Dubliner powered 4-0 head, before Robertson sunk a 74 break to reduce his arrears.
The last three frames saw both players entertain the crowd with some exhibition shots, with Doherty winning the final frame for his fourth win on the spin.
'You've just got to go out and play like you're going to win the match - you can't think about trying too draw,' added Doherty.
'It's like a football team going out to try and have a draw - sometimes they're tentative, edgy and won't go forward.
'You can easily become unstuck, so my philosophy was to try and win. For me, as soon as I got the three frames, it was happy days.'
Higgins, meanwhile, eased to a 5-1 victory over Perry to maintain his interest in this year's €100,000 invitational event.
'It was a bit scrappy, but these group stages are out of the ordinary from the normal knockout matches you play,' said the Scot.
Last month's Masters finalist Stephen Lee completed his Malta Cup campaign with a comprehensive 5-1 dead-rubber win over Ulsterman Joe Swail.
Both players knew they were unable qualify for the semis, but Lee still impressed despite having slipped 1-0 down after Belfast's Swail pocketed a 55 break.
Lee responded by winning the next five frames thanks largely to breaks of 52, 67 and 55.
Defending champion Shaun Murphy is the third player through to the semi-finals.
The Rotherham potter needed to win three frames against Stephen Hendry in their qualifying group decider tonight.
And he did just that with a comprehensive 5-1 win. Next up is a meeting with or Chinese youngster Ding Junhui who whitewashed former world champion Mark Williams.
Stephen Maguire and Mark Selby finished deadlocked at 3-3 in their final group match.
Northern Ireland Trophy champion Maguire edged 2-1 ahead, only for new Masters winners Selby to win the next two frames for a 3-2 lead.
But Glaswegian Maguire pinched the last frame to make sure of a share of the spoils.
