Players Championship: Judd Trump to face Marco Fu in final
- Published
Judd Trump secured a place in his fifth ranking final of the season as he beat Ali Carter in the Players Championship semi-final in Llandudno.
Carter fought back from a 4-2 deficit to level at 4-4 and set up a thrilling finish at Venue Cymru.
A break of 89 took Trump 5-4 ahead and he seized the last frame to reach his first Players Championship final.
The world number three will face Hong Kong's Marco Fu on Sunday after Fu beat world number five Ding Junhui 6-5.
"On current form Judd Trump is the best player in the world and a lot of people would agree with me so he'll be the favourite," said Fu.
"I need to improve because I'm in the final but I've been relying on my 'B' game throughout the week."
Ding, who made two breaks over 90 in his 5-2 quarter-final win over Anthony Hamilton, won three frames in a row to move within one frame of victory against Fu at 5-3.
But Fu reduced the deficit courtesy of a 61 clearance and took the next to set up a decider, which he captured with a composed break of 98.
Fu in his second ranking final of the season after winning the Scottish Open in December, while he also beat Trump 6-5 at the Masters in January.
"That Masters win was one of the best matches I've been involved in - it's tough to produce that standard again but that's my goal," added Fu.
"I'll be up for the final - this is a great tournament and all the players want to win it so both of us will be determined."
Players Championship - draw and results
Final
Judd Trump v Marco Fu
Semi-finals
Judd Trump 6-4 Ali Carter
Marco Fu 6-5 Ding Junhui
Quarter-finals
Mark Selby 2-5 Marco Fu
Ding Junhui 5-2 Anthony Hamilton
Neil Robertson 3-5 Ali Carter
Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-5 Judd Trump
Round one
Stuart Bingham 1-5 Anthony Hamilton
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-1 Liang Wenbo
Mark Selby 5-4 Ryan Day
Marco Fu 5-1 Anthony McGill
Barry Hawkins 0-5 Neil Robertson
Judd Trump 5-2 Mark King
Ding Junhui 5-4 John Higgins
Ali Carter 5-4 Shaun Murphy
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