O'Sullivan moves past Si to reach Crucible last four

Ronnie O'Sullivan booked his place in the World Championship semi-finals with a 13-9 win over Si Jiahui as he maintained his bid for a record eighth title in the modern era.

Leading 10-6 from Wednesday morning's session, the 49-year-old Englishman lost three of the first four frames in the evening as Si closed to 11-9.

However, a sublime long red paved the way for him to win a tight 23rd frame and he completed his victory with a break of 74.

O'Sullivan, who has won a record 41 ranking events over a remarkable career, will now take on former UK champion Zhao Xintong in the last four.

Meanwhile, world number one Judd Trump set a new century record for a single season as he powered past Luca Brecel 13-8 to set up a semi-final meeting with three-time champion Mark Williams.

The Welshman, 49, won 13-12 in a Crucible classic black ball decider against John Higgins.

The encounter between Trump and Williams will pit the game's two most decorated left-handed players against each other in a repeat of the 2022 semi-final.

Trump edged that nerve-shredding contest 17-16 against the Welshman and expended little energy on Wednesday evening to dispatch Brecel.

Unlike the afternoon session when 2019 winner Trump did well to emerge at 8-8 after watching Belgium's Brecel produce an array of stunning pots, once play resumed the Englishman was in the ascendency.

He set the tone with a superb 115 in the opening frame to equal Neil Robertson's landmark total of 103 centuries set in 2013-14.

And he eclipsed the Australian in the very next frame with a run of 116.

That brought up Trump's 11th century at this year's World Championship, with the record of 16 in a single Crucible campaign, set by Stephen Hendry in 2002 and equalled by Mark Williams in 2022, now in his sights.

Brecel, who won the world title two years ago simply had no answer, scoring a meagre 19 points from the first four frames, and when he missed a brown to the left middle Trump wrapped up the contest.