Fellow Englishman Mark Selby is also still in the hunt on the opposite side of the draw.
Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan will battle once again after reaching the semi-final of the World Grand Prix on Thursday in Milton Keynes.
O’Sullivan came from behind to beat Kyren Wilson 5-3 in what was a repeat of their World Championship final from several months ago.
The “Rocket” once again wasn’t anywhere near his best but won a succession of close frames to successfully overturn a 3-1 interval deficit.
Trump was somewhat more convincing, although did make slightly hard work of his 5-2 triumph over Martin Gould after initially racing three frames clear with the aid of a brace of century breaks.
The 31 year-old has been so consistent this campaign that this run represents the seventh time out of eight tournaments in total in which he has reached at least the last four.
The semi-final affair for Trump and O’Sullivan comes just a month after their most recent meeting when the former sealed success in the Northern Ireland Open final in November.
In fact, four out of the last five fixtures between the esteemed pair have concluded in the younger competitor’s favour.
All of those victories occurred in finals, but interestingly enough the last two times that O’Sullivan managed to get one over on his rival both happened to be semi-final bouts.
Overall, their head-to-head reads all-square but there’s no questioning the fact that the world number one has enjoyed the better of their duels in recent times.
While O’Sullivan bids to become the first snooker player in more than 30 years to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday, it’s worth noting that the “Rocket” has only one piece of silverware to his name throughout 2020, albeit it was a big one.
Trump, on the other hand, could land his sixth ranking crown of this calendar year if he were to go on and triumph in the World Grand Prix this weekend.
The last time they both met in this tournament was in 2015, when Trump won the inaugural edition with a 10-7 victory over O’Sullivan in the final.
Ahead of the eagerly anticipated semi-final clash between Trump and O’Sullivan, the outcome of the remaining two quarter-finals must first be determined.
An in-form Mark Selby, who hammered O’Sullivan to defend the Scottish Open title last week, is in the hunt again after scoring heavily to beat Anthony McGill in the last 16.
Selby will face Hossein Vafaei, who compiled breaks of 134, 86, and 51 to see off the challenge of Ding Junhui.
Elsewhere, Jack Lisowski and Zhao Xintong maintained their hopes of capturing a maiden ranking event trophy.
A couple of tons from Lisowski helped him to thump Robert Milkins 4-0, while Zhao held off John Higgins’ late revival for a 4-3 defeat of the four-time world champion.
The World Grand Prix features only the top 32 earners on the one-year list from this season, and it is the last ranking event of the 2020 calendar year.
The tournament is being broadcast live on ITV4 across Ireland and the United Kingdom, or you can check viewing options for your region by clicking here.
Click here to view the World Grand Prix draw
