England survived a thrilling fight back from Northern Ireland at the Little Swan World Cup, winning 4-3 to secure a semi-final place.
English duo Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins will now meet China B in the semis in Wuxi on Sunday after the latter got the better of Belgium 3-2.
Trump beat Mark Allen in the opening frame then Hawkins beat Joe Swail. England won the doubles frame to make it 3-0. Back came Northern Ireland as Swail beat Trump, Allen beat Hawkins and they took the second doubles frame to level at 3-3.
However Trump rose to the occasion in the decider against Allen with a run of 93 - the only break over 50 in the match.
Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Noppon Saengkham are also into the last four as they ended Iran’s run with a 4-1 victory.
The first two frames were shared then Thailand won the doubles, before Un-Nooh compiled a superb 133 against Hossein Vafaei to make it 3-1. And Saengkham took the next frame against Soheil Vahedi to complete the scoreline.
Thailand will now meet China A as Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo kept alive their hopes of winning the event for the second time as they beat Wales 4-1 in the quarter-finals.
Ding and Liang lifted the trophy in 2011 and they are now two wins away from another team title. They will face Thailand in the semi-finals on Sunday.
A 33 clearance from Liang gave him the opening frame against Mark Williams, then Ding made a break of 68 to beat Ryan Day. The doubles frame also went to China and Liang led 44-0 in frame four, only for Day to make a 69 clearance.
But there would be no fight back for Wales as Ding got the better of Williams in frame five.
