Masters snooker report: Shaun Murphy and David Gilbert through to the semis

Bingham clinched a gruelling affair 6-3 after a marathon tussle whose highlight was a 133 he made in the second frame to haul level at 1-1.

Both players were guilty of missed chances and none proved more important than Murphy’s missed yellow in the fourth frame which enabled Bingham to pull back from 58 points behind to level at 2-2.

A 91 in the next frame saw Bingham nudge ahead and he extended his lead only for Murphy to belatedly discover his form with a break of 70 reduce the deficit back to a single frame.

Bingham clinched a 47-minute eighth frame on the colours and took the next in two visits to win the match and book a last-four clash with Yan Bingtao or Stephen Maguire.

David Gilbert saved his best until last to beat Kyren Wilson 6-5 and reach the semi-finals, as well.

Wilson had been the heavier scorer throughout the match but was left to rue a number of missed opportunities during its middle portion, along with his failure to put things to bed when leading 5-4.

But it was Gilbert's timing which proved decisive, as he scrappily kept himself in touch before producing his highest break of the match to level at 5-5, and then another telling contribution in the next to complete the comeback.

Gilbert was hardly nerveless during the closing stages - breaks of 67 and 66 both left him with work to do, and both should've been greater - but all the pressure was heaped onto Wilson, who missed a vital pink when handed an unexpected chance to turn the decider.

Wilson in the end had only himself to blame, not only for failing to convert his advantage or for missing his final chance to counterpunch, but for his sloppiness after taking a 3-2 lead after the first frame following the interval.

The 2018 finalist could and arguably should have taken the next two frames to open up a surely unassailable 5-2 lead, but Gilbert stole both as the match ebbed and flowed towards a dramatic conclusion.

Indeed, after Wilson took the first frame, each player took turns to take two each - and that pattern ended in Gilbert, below form all season, capturing a significant scalp by winning 6-5 to reach the final four.

Gilbert said: “I had a miscue and I’m sat in my chair thinking this is going to be a tough one to swallow – when Kyren missed that pink in the middle I could have stripped off and run around the table.”

Gilbert, who will play either Ronnie O’Sullivan or John Higgins in the last four, had reached just one quarter-final in seven tournaments prior to the Masters this season.

And he admitted the coronavirus situation has weighed heavy on his form, adding: “I think I’ve just been getting used to this new crap world we’re living in.

“It really is crap. I hate this term ‘new normal’. Let’s just get back to how it was as soon as possible. When you’ve enjoyed certain things and it’s all just gone, it’s easy to let things snowball.”