Snooker results: Robert Milkins into Welsh Open final

Milkins produced breaks of 61, 109, 89 and 82 in a comprehensive 6-2 win which puts him tantalisingly close to a second ranking title and the £150,000 BetVictor Bonus which will accompany it.

Whoever tops the BetVictor series rankings at the conclusion of this week's event will scoop the six-figure sum and it will go down to the wire, with Milkins set to snatch it from Ali Carter but only if he wins the final.

That subplot will help colour Milkins' clash with Shaun Murphy, who beat Pang Junxu 6-3 on Saturday night. Milkins will pick up £35,000 if he loses, but £230,000 should he win - almost £100,000 more than his previous best across an entire season.

Tian suffered a cruel slice of misfortune in the opener as he led 67-0 when he potted frame-ball red, only for the cue ball to go in-off which allowed Milkins to pinch it with a ruthless half-century.

A run of 109 doubled his lead before Tian made a break of 58 to pull one back only for Milkins to pot a superb red to move into a 3-1 lead at the interval, after which the pair exchanged frames before Milkins raced to the line.

'I don't know how I'm going to cope'

"It’s massive tomorrow, the biggest game of my life," said Milkins. "I don’t know how I’m going to cope. It would be enough just playing for the title, let alone everything that goes with it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand up. But I might rise to the occasion, sometimes when there is that much pressure on, you play well, other times you can’t do anything right.

"I made a good clearance today in the first frame and then went 2-0 ahead. I lost my way after that for a few frames but from 4-2 I played well to get over the line. I back myself against most players in the scrappy frames. And I made a few good breaks today, which I couldn’t do against Mark Allen yesterday.

"I didn’t sleep well last night so hopefully tonight I’ll get some food, chill out and have 10 hours' sleep to catch up."

Murphy may not have had time for quite so much sleep after he was embroiled in a scrappy clash with Pang, eventually prevailing 6-3 after the first four frames had been shared.

"It wasn’t a great performance, neither of us played well," admitted Murphy, our 22/1 outright tip. "The importance of the occasion got to us. I let him dictate the style of play and if it hadn’t been for the words of my assistant Robert Murphy during the interval, I wouldn’t have won that game.

"I have been on a bleak run in the last couple of seasons so I am over the moon to be back in another final. We spend a lot of time away from our kids and families but we never give up and I have been working very hard on my game.

"This has been coming all season, I have been playing well. In the club I have been grafting, working on my weaknesses and watching my matches back to see where things have gone wrong. I feel I may have turned a corner."

Watch: Murphy's shot of the tournament

Click the image to see Shaun Murphy's stunning pot