John Higgins will play either Mark Selby or Ding Junhui in the Tour Championship final on Sunday after beating in-form Barry Hawkins 10-7 in Manchester.
Veteran world number six Higgins produced some of his best snooker of the season, making century breaks of 144, 130 and 107, the latter to clinch his place in his 58th ranking final, six behind Ronnie O'Sullivan’s record of 64.
Higgins won the first two frames in a high-quality opening session, but Hawkins, who beat Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump in previous rounds, responded with breaks of 86, 79 and 97 to edge into a 3-2 lead.
The Scot took the next two before Hawkins levelled it up at 4-4 with a brilliant 140-break at the end of the afternoon session.
Hawkins produced another century (125) at 5-4 down, but Higgins was unrelenting, scoring 73 and then eclipsing his English opponent’s high-score with a brilliant break of 144 to lead 7-5.
World number 12 Hawkins hung in to reduce the deficit, only for Higgins to move to within one frame of victory at 9-6 with the help of another superb century.
Hawkins extended the match thanks to a 99-break, but Higgins sealed victory with a score of 107.
