Lyu Haotian became the first player through to the semi-finals of this year’s China Championship after a 5-1 win over Martin O’Donnell. It has been an impressive run through to the last four from the Chinese 20-year-old.

He received a bye in the first round after Kyren Wilson withdrew but then beat Joe Perry 5-3 and Shaun Murphy by the same scoreline to reach the last eight where he had little trouble in dispatching O’Donnell. He will face John Higgins in the last four, the Scot coming from behind to beat Judd Trump 5-3.

Haotian became one of the youngest players to have played in professional tournaments and he reached the last eight of the 2012 International Championship when he was aged just 14. His semi-final appearance in Guangzhou matches his best ranking performance, having reached the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open last year.

Higgins, having reached the last four, will be seeking another China Championship title. He won the inaugural tournament in 2016 when it was a non-ranking event, beating Stuart Bingham in that year’s final.

It then became a ranking event and was won last year by Luca Brecel, the Belgian beating Shaun Murphy 10-5. Having been the best of nine frames, the semi-finals are the best of 11 with the final being the first to reach 10 frames.

The other half of the draw sets up two contests with English players taking on Chinese home favourites. Yuan Sijun who beat Ding Junhui earlier in the competition meets Mark Selby while in the other Barry Hawkins is up against Zhao Xintong.

Hawkins is 1.44 to win through to the last four with Xintong 2.63. Selby meanwhile is 1.25 to win his quarter-final with Yuan Sijun 3.80.