China’s Zhang Anda withstood a comeback from Mark Selby to beat the Englishman 6-5 and set up a Players Championship final against Mark Allen.
Zhang opened with a 129 break and added others of 80, 69 and 84 to take a 4-0 lead in Telford.
Selby then won five of the next six frames, which included breaks of 62, 84 and 114, to level the match at 5-5.
In the decider, Zhang made a 50 break before securing victory after Selby missed a brown.
“I’m just really happy I could win because he fought back when I had a 4-0 lead,” Zhang, who has reached his third ranking final of the season, told ITV.
“I played very well in the deciding game, the first red into the centre pocket gave me a chance to make 50 points.”