Mark Allen beats John Higgins in World Open quarter-finals

Mark Allen continued the defence of his World Open title in Haikou, China with a 5-3 win over John Higgins in the quarter-finals on Friday.

The Antrim man, who has won the event for the past two years, was tied at 2-2 with the Scot at the mid-session interval, but then pulled away.

Allen will face 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy in Saturday's semi-finals.

Mark Selby plays Marco Fu in the other last four clash, with the final taking place on Sunday.

World number two Selby beat Alan McManus 5-1, while Fu saw off Mark Joyce 5-3 and Murphy defeated Graeme Dott 5-4.

Allen had reached the quarter-finals thanks to a 5-2 victory over Ricky Walden on Thursday.