Jack Lisowski feels he is taking on the ‘best player in the world’ when he tackles close friend Judd Trump at the Coral Players Championship on Wednesday evening.

The pair are close friends away from the table but will be tense rivals with a semi-final place on the line in Preston.

Lisowski reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the sixth time this season with an impressive display against Kyren Wilson.

Having lost the opening frame, Lisowski knocked in breaks of 50, 65, 121 and 59 to take five of the next six on offer and lead 5-2. Wilson rallied to get within one but Lisowski notched a match-winning 110 break to move on with a 6-4 win.

“I have been working on a few things to calm me down in the big arena. I managed to keep my concentration in front of the cameras. I’ve got great people around me and I’m listening to them to try to get better,” he said.

Lisowski has won one of the previous three clashes with Trump this season, a best-of-11 meeting at the International Championship when he scored a 6-2 success.

Trump however has won the Northern Ireland Open, the Dafabet Masters and the World Grand Prix already this season and his next opponent knows how tough a match he’s facing into.

“He’s pretty much the best player in the world at the moment so it doesn’t get any harder than that,” said Lisowski. “If he has an off day and I can score then anything is possible. I’m looking forward to it.”

Trump is 1.40 favourite to win, with Lisowski priced at 2.88.