John Higgins ousts out-of-sorts Ronnie O’Sullivan, Barry Hawkins beats Yan Bingtao

O’Sullivan came from behind to claim the first frame courtesy of a break of 64 but Higgins replied with a 113 and 57 to take the next two.

It looked like The Rocket would emerge from the first session with a share of the frames but an unfortunate run of the cue ball to the middle pocket allowed Higgins back in.

The Wizard of Wishaw took that fourth frame to go to the interval leading 3-1 and a run of 60 in the fifth put Higgins within one frame of the semis.

And the four-time world champion constructed a break of 101 in the sixth and final frame to seal his spot in the last four.

Earlier, Barry Hawkins produced some sublime snooker as he beat Yan Bingtao 5-1 to progress to the semi-finals of the Welsh Open.

A 54 was enough for Yan Bingtao to take the first frame of the best-of-nine encounter but Hawkins replied in kind with runs of 74 and 137.

The fourth frame was a scrappier affair but the Hawk bossed it and it proved decisive as the 38-year-old produced breaks of 141 and 60 to make his first semi-final since the World Championships last year.

Earlier, Noppon Saengkham beat Ian Burns 5-3.

With both players playing for the right to appear in the first ranking event semi-final of their careers, the opening exchanges were fraught with nerves.

However, it was Saengkham who settled and runs of 87, 55, 67 and 65 set up a semi-final clash with ninth seed Hawkins.

Barry Hawkins 5 – 1 Yan Bingtao

Noppon Saengkham 5 – 3 Ian Burns

John Higgins 5-1 Ronnie O'Sullivan