ENGLAND'S Judd Trump is the first player through to Sunday's grand final of the $500,000 Australian Snooker Goldfields Open in Bendigo.
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Trump scored a 6-3 victory in Saturday's first semi-final against China's Xiao Guodong at Bendigo Stadium.
At 4-3 the heat was on, but Trump showed why he is the tournament's No. 3 seed and world No. 6 as he won the next two frames.
The triumph by the Englishman included 628 points to 282.
Trump potted 193 balls to Xiao's 82.
The contest hit off with Trump scoring what would be a match-high break of 114 in frame one.
Xiao won frame two, 78-48.
The English ace achieved a break of 101 as he won frame three, 101-31, and then 88-27 to be well in control of the contest.
Xiao kept the pressure on he was won the fifth frame, 73-19, in the best-off-11 frame battle.
Trump struck back after Xiao won frame five by racking up a break of 94 in a 113-6 victory in the sixth.
A 67-27 victory in the seventh kept Xiao in the contest, but it was Trump who racked up consecutive frames to close out the match.
Seeded at 16 for this tournament, Xiao played superbly at Bendigo to beat Liam Highfield, 5-2; Peter Ebdon, 5-4; and Matthew Stevens, 5-2.
Trump's roll to the final of the Goldfields Open began with a 5-2 win against Rory McLeod.
He followed up with a 5-3 victory against Alan McManus, and then a hard-fought 5-4 win in the quarter-final clash with Ricky Walden.
The UK champion in 2011, Trump struck three centuries in his latest hit-out at the table in Bendigo.
He will now await the winner of Saturday night's semi-final clash between the tournament's No.1 seed, Australia's top gun Neil Robertson and England's Mark Davis.
"The standard is so high, so to reach the final is an achievement in itself," Trump said after Saturday's victory.
Saturday night's Robertson-Davis clash hits off at 7pm.
The grand final on Sunday hits off at 2pm and will include a second session from 7pm.