Cao Yupeng will play in his first ever ranking event final after a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Judd Trump at the Dafabet Scottish Open.
Yupeng, who suffered a 6-1 defeat to Trump in his only previous semi-final at the European Masters in October, continued his rich vein of form in Glasgow, where he hit a stunning 147 on Tuesday.
He's done it!
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker1) December 16, 2017
Cao Yupeng only won two matches last season, but the Chinese talent is one win away from his first ranking title 💪 @Eurosport_UK #ScottishOpen pic.twitter.com/XvR3KW2XDf
The Chinese cueman opened the match with a great long-range pot and despite being unable to construct a sizeable break, he took the opening frame.
The 27-year-old edged the next to lead 2-0 but Trump responded with the first half-century clearance of the match to halve the deficit before Yupeng notched an 88 break to regain a two-frame advantage going into the mid-session interval.
A break of 50 was enough for the Englishman to win a lengthy fifth frame and he took the next to level the match but a fantastic half-century break put Yupeng back in front.
The world number 67 won the eighth frame to put him one away from victory but Trump hit back with a 53 run to extend the match further.
However, Yupeng only needed one frame as he reeled off another half-century break to seal victory.
💬 @nr147: "It's nice to see the hard work paying off"
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker1) December 16, 2017
A convincing 6-3 victory over John Higgins sees Neil Robertson through to the @Dafabet Scottish Open final.
The former world number one has rated his opponent Cao Yupeng for quite some time #ScottishOpen pic.twitter.com/Vz3hxHU1Og
Neil Robertson secured his place in the final with a 6-3 win over John Higgins in Saturday's late match.
The Australian had opened up what appeared to be a commanding 4-0 lead over the Scot following breaks of 117 and 135.
However, Higgins, who had whitewashed Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-0 in their quarter-final, rallied with two half-century runs and then edged frame seven to claw the deficit back to 4-3, which delighted the home support.
Robertson, though, then found his range again with breaks of 70 and 56 to take the next before going on to close out victory.
