England’s Mark Selby is hoping to reach the final four of the World Grand Prix but will first need to get past Judd Trump on Friday.

The 35-year-old is now within touching distance of winning the title, just a few weeks after he won the Championship League – Group 5.

Selby headed into the tournament in good form, having reached the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open at the end of last year.

The world number one opened the tournament with a 4-1 victory over Shaun Murphy and was then the favourite to beat Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham on Thursday.

A break of 55,69 gave him a 1-0 lead before he moved into a 3-0 lead. Saengkham dug deep to make it 3-2 although Selby eventually got over the line to win 4-2.

Trump remains the slight favourites to win and his recent form will give him a huge confidence boost. The 29-year-old won The Masters last month before reaching the quarter-finals of the German Masters.

Stuart Carrington and Tom Ford proved no match for him during the first two rounds although the meeting with Selby promises to be a cracker.

Selby is 2.05 to book his place in the final while Trump is 1.73 with Dafabet.

Selby has won the last two meetings between the pair, with his last success coming in the first round of the Welsh Open. He also beat him in PTC 3 but Trump saw him off to win the China Open.

A close game is expected and Selby to win 5-4 is 6.00.