Trump cruises past Selby while Wu edges Murphy at Shenzhen Open

Judd Trump delivered a dominant performance to whitewash Mark Selby 5-0 at the Shenzhen Open, securing his place in the semi-finals. Trump will now face world champion Wu Yize, who survived a tense encounter against Shaun Murphy to advance with a 5-4 victory.

Trump’s campaign against fellow Englishman Selby was defined by precision and composure. He recorded five consecutive breaks of fifty or more, but it was his tactical safety play that ultimately proved decisive in sealing the whitewash. Despite Selby having opportunities to mount a challenge in the first, third, and fourth frames, he could not match the cue-ball control of the world number two.

In the other semi-final spot, Wu Yize produced a dramatic comeback against Murphy, revisiting the script of this year’s Crucible final, which the 22-year-old Chinese star also won in a deciding frame. Wu struck two centuries in the final three frames to seal the win.

Murphy, the 44-year-old English veteran, had built a 3-2 lead during the session thanks to a break of 68. However, Wu responded with impressive scores of 94 and 121 to take the advantage. The match saw momentum shift sharply in the eighth frame, where an error-strewn contest saw Murphy capitalize on a missed crucial brown to level the match at 4-4.

The deciding frame belonged to Wu, who converted a mistake by his opponent to compile a break of 117. Murphy had earlier produced high breaks of 104 and 98, but these were negated by uncharacteristic misses in the frames between them.

In other action, world number 45 Jimmy Robertson kept his hopes of claiming his first ranking title since 2018 alive with a 5-3 defeat of Chris Wakelin. Robertson will next face Yuan Sijun, who recovered from a poor start to win 5-2 against Michael Holt. Yuan rattled off four consecutive frames, including two centuries, to complete the turnaround.