Stephen Maguire. Picture by Monique Limbos

JUDD Trump’s hopes of defending the Australian Open title are now over after losing to Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals.

Scotland’s Maguire beat the Bristol star 5-1 to book a place in the semi-finals of the season’s first major ranking event.

A break of 62, a re-spotted black and a dominant third frame saw Maguire take a 3-0 early lead against last season’s Australian Open winner before Trump won the fourth frame with runs of 44 and 51.

But a break of 69 from Trump in the fifth frame was not enough as Maguire came back to go 4-1 up before clinching the match in the sixth frame.

Maguire now stands just two wins away from winning his first major ranking event since landing the Welsh Open title more than two years ago.

His semi-final showdown will be against Martin Gould who recorded a 5-1 win against Matt Selt who previously defeated Neil Robertson in the opening round.

Gould, ranked 26th in the world, impressed throughout making breaks of 122, 72 and 58 to reach the last four.

Elsewhere Welshman Jamie Jones,who defeated world number one Mark Selby in the second round, made the semi-finals of a major ranking event for the first time after coming back from behind to beat Michael White.

Fellow Welshman White looked to be heading for victory when he led 4-2 but Jones made impressive runs of 63, 51 and 66 to turn the match around.

Jamie Jones

Jones, who reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 2013, will hope to reach his first major final with victory over John Higgins tomorrow (Saturday).

Four times world champion Higgins beat Joe Perry 5-3 to continue his good run of form after reaching the World Cup final with fellow Scotsman Maguire.

Just weeks after being teammates, Higgins and Maguire could face each other in the Australia Open should they win their semi-final matches.

Australian Open 2015 semi-finals

Stephen MAGUIRE vs Martin GOULD
Jamie JONES vs John HIGGINS