RONNIE O’Sullivan underlined his status as the favourite to win the 888 Zhenren Welsh Open with a stunning victory over Judd Trump yesterday.

The Rocket beat the young pretender to his throne 5-3 as the Newport Centre crowd was treated to an exhibition by the two most exciting players in the sport.

He progresses into today’s semi-finals looking a good bet to win a second ranking event in a row after claiming the German Masters crown two weeks ago.

O’Sullivan and Trump traded huge breaks in the first six frames and were level at 3-3.

Trump led 1-0 after a 109, before O’Sullivan fought back with a 101 followed by 88.

Trump hit 63 to level at 2-2 before a 139 clearance from O’Sullivan and an 88 from the Bristol prospect.

But the three-times world champion sensed a little weakness in his younger opponent, who had won the last three encounters between the pair, and closed out the match to make the last four this weekend.

“It was a close match and I’m pleased to get through,” said O’Sullivan.

“Judd is a fantastic player and he kept me under pressure.

“We’ve had some good matches with a couple of last frame deciders and this was another one. Thankfully I was able to turn this one around.

“I felt he was feeling the pressure a bit at 3-3,” he explained. “I saw him breathing a little heavy and I hadn’t noticed that before in him.

“And when I saw that I sensed that maybe that was my chance to take it.

“Maybe he felt he was favourite at that stage and that put extra pressure on him.”

O’Sullivan, who is still suffering from the after-effects of glandular fever, is characteristically laid back about the prospect of landing back-to-back tournament wins.

“I’m enjoying it now,” he said. “Maybe there’s not quite so much pressure on me to be king of the jungle now.

“That’s down to the other lads coming through.

“They are hungry to stamp their authority on the game but I feel I’ve done that and I’m just here to enjoy it.”

In the afternoon’s other quarter-final Shaun Murphy overcame Mark Allen 5-4 in a tense deciding frame that lasted 32 minutes.

In last night's matches Mark Selby beat 2011 losing finalist Stephen Maguire 5-3 to set up a semi-final showdown with O'Sullivan tonight (7pm).

And Ding Junhai beat Stephen Lee 5-4. He will take on Murphy this afternoon (1pm).