Judd Trump reaches European Masters final with sparkling display

Trump dropped the first frame as Cao pieced together 63, but the Chinese player was forced to sit and suffer as runs of 61, 100, 63, 87 and 115 saw the world number four ease through to Sunday's final in the Belgian city of Lommel.

Trump - who beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-8 in last year's final in Bucharest - will meet 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham after the Englishman beat Zhou Yuelong 6-4 late on Saturday night.

“I always know if I play well it is going to be quite comfortable and I played pretty well there,” said Trump.

"Even when I play badly now I still have a good chance, but if I can score like that and play like I can in practice it will be a great opportunity for a trophy.

“Stuart is a great player, I watched him play against Mark Selby last night and he was very good.

"Tonight is going to be a close one, but now I can just sit back and watch it. It is good to see young players like Zhou Yuelong come through and take out some of the older players. I think this year could be a bit of a changing of the guard.”

Bingham, meanwhile, saw off 19-year-old Zhou in a topsy-turvy match that saw the players trade frames up until 4-4.

After starting with a clearance of 84, Bingham, the 2015 world champion, soon found himself trailing after Zhou - who had whitewashed Anthony McGill in the last round - produced a break of 101 to lead 2-1 and again at 4-3.

The world number 11, however, stuck to his task and clawed the deficit back to take frame eight with a run of 68 before going on to close out a hard-earned victory.