Former world champion Stuart Bingham beat Ali Carter 5-2 to reach the semi-finals of the English Open in Crawley.
Bingham laid down his intentions early when producing a fabulous total clearance of 138 in frame one and he looked set to double his lead when first in with a break of 58 in the second frame.
However, a missed pink from Bingham allowed Carter to level the scores at 1-1 after both players had spurned chances.
Bingham quickly got himself back on the front foot with a well-taken run of 70 before Carter responded in kind with a break of 80 to ensure the players were locked together at the mid-session interval.
A scrappy fifth frame when the way of Bingham as he got his nose back in front before a wonderful clearance of 70 in the next landed a hammer bow on Carter, who had seemed sure to win the frame when in first with 69.
Now with a commanding lead, the former world champion kept his foot on the throttle and duly wrapped up victory and a semi-final spot when dominating the seventh frame in which he added a break of 52, his fifth half-century contribution in the match.
He will now face either Noppon Saengkham or Stephen Maguire in the last four.
On the other side of the draw, Mark Davis beat Ryan Day 5-1, for whom a 92 break in frame five was the highlight of a straightforward success.
It's a first semi-final since last year's Snooker Shootout for Davis and could mean a clash with Ronnie O'Sullivan, who knocked him out of last year's English Open.
