Ronnie O’Sullivan struggled for peak form, but held his nerve in the final frame to complete a 5-4 win over fellow Essex potter Matthew Selt in the Xi’an Grand Prix quarter-finals.
The seven-time world champion will face Kyren Wilson in the semi-finals on Saturday after the defending Crucible winner eased to a 5-1 win over world No. 58 Xu Si in the other last-eight match on Friday morning.
But O’Sullivan was perhaps fortunate to overcome former Indian Open holder Selt, who was the heavier scorer as he came agonisingly close to a first win against the world No. 5 after losing their two previous meetings at the 2014 UK Championship and 2016 Scottish Open.
A couple of 50-plus breaks helped the 41-time ranking event winner lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval, but Selt rallied superbly as breaks of 102, 105 and 95 saw him level at 4-4 from 4-2 behind to gain crucial momentum.
O’Sullivan missed a black having opened with a 38 in the deciding frame, but Selt ultimately could not recover as a loose safety shot off a red enabled his opponent to scramble over the line in taking it 71-13.
Wilson had an easier passage past Xu, who had ousted three-time world champion Mark Williams 5-4 from 4-2 behind in the last 16 on Thursday.
Knocks of 69, 50 and 115 helped Wilson progress with Xu’s 51 in the third frame merely preventing a whitewash.
O’Sullivan and Wilson contest their best-of-11 frame semi-final at 07:00 UK time on Saturday morning.
The remaining quarter-finals begin at 12:30 on Friday with Judd Trump facing David Gilbert and Barry Hawkins confronting Daniel Wells.
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Xi’an Grand Prix quarter-final results
- Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-4 Matthew Selt
- Kyren Wilson 5-1 Xu Si
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