Judd Trump. Picture by Monique Limbos

JUDD Trump battled back from 3-0 and 4-3 down against Ricky Walden to earn a place in the Australian Open semi-finals.

The Bristol potter’s long wait for major silverware, which goes back as far as November 2012, looked set to continue when Walden complied breaks of 104 and 72 in winning the first three frames of the quarter-final.

But with his back to the wall Trump found his best form when he most needed it hitting a vital break of 110 in the fourth to get off the mark.

A more confident Trump then reduced his arrears to 3-2 after nicking the fifth frame on the final colours before a break of 86 got him back to level terms at 3-3.

A break of 80 saw Walden regain the lead and on the verge of victory but he was to be denied as Trump made a match-changing break of 77 to take the match into a decider.

And Trump turned the match around just when he needed to as a break of 85 put him into the semi-finals.

The 2011 World Championship finalist will next face Xiao Guodong after China’s number two star sealed his place into the semi-finals with a 5-2 win over Matthew Stevens.

Following his epic tussle against Peter Ebdon, Guodong hit top breaks of 57, 61, 91 and 63 to move just one win away from his second major ranking final.

Later in the day, Neil Robertson continued his quest to win the Australian Open for the first time after winning three frames in a row to claim a 5-2 win over Robert Milkins.

Robertson, playing in his home tournament, moved a step closer to capturing back-to-back ranking tiles following his Wuxi Classic success last week, as a mixture of good break building and winning tight frames helped him to victory.

The Australian will meet Mark Davis for a place in the final after he fought back from 4-3 down to defeat former Australian Open winner Stuart Bingham 5-4.

Australian Open 2014: Semi-Finals

Neil ROBERTSON vs Mark DAVIS
Judd TRUMP vs Xiao GUODONG