He was not at his best, but Judd Trump did enough to move into the fourth German Masters final of his career with a 6-2 win over Sam Craigie.
Trump, who won this tournament consecutively in 2020 and 2021, came into the event as the fourth seed, and beat John Higgins 6-2 in the last eight to earn a fifth career encounter against Craigie.
Both men had two wins each in their four meetings, with Craigie coming out on top in their last clash, at the WST Pro Series in 2021.
But here, it was Trump who used every ounce of his experience to see himself into the final.
Craigie showed signs of nerves with a clip off the brown and a couple of fouls in the early exchanges of the opening frame, allowing Trump to get into a comfortable rhythm from the off, building up a big lead and forcing Craigie to concede when needing multiple snookers.
A decent start to the second had the underdog in the ascendancy, and he seized upon Trump leaving the black ball in the jaws to level proceedings and gain himself a foothold in the semi-final.
A break of 48 had Trump up in the third, but another black in the jaws gave Craigie a chance to get back into the frame, which he took, but a crucial in-off following a potted yellow allowed the former world champion to take the third frame.
Two brilliant long pots from the Bristolian had him 45-5 up, before he jawed another ball to keep giving his opponent chances at a fightback. But eventually, the world No. 2 got the job done to go in 3-1 up at the interval.
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A superb 68 break brought up 4-1 in quick time, with the highlight of the fifth being a magnificent yellow down the table, breaking a bunch of reds.
However, Craigie would refuse to lie down, setting the highest break of the evening so far with a 71, and, despite a wonderful shot in the early stages of the seventh, the momentum would swing back the way of Trump, with a fluke ending a lengthy safety exchange to allow him a chance to see out the frame.
He duly did, with a break of 75, needing one more to advance into Sunday’s final, and a miss of a long pot from Craigie at the start of the eighth frame had the cue ball right amongst a sea of reds, with things looking ominous.
It took longer than expected, but Trump cleared up to see himself safely through to the final showdown, where he will meet Si Jiahui, who defeated Kyren Wilson in the bottom half of the draw.
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