UK Championship 2023 semi-finals live – Ronnie O’Sullivan faces Hossein Vafaei with Ding Junhui v Judd Trump later

Ronnie O’Sullivan says he will be looking to “keep up” with Hossein Vafaei when the pair meet in the UK Championship semi-finals.

O’Sullivan edged past Zhou Yuelong 6-5 to reach the semi-finals of the UK Championship as he bids to win the competition for a record-extending eighth time.

He will meet Iran’s Hossein Vafaei in the final four after he beat Zhang Anda 6-4 in Friday’s other afternoon quarter-final.

Vafaei will be making his debut in a semi-final of a Triple Crown event, but O’Sullivan insists he will not underestimate his opponent.

The pair have some history after Vafaei claimed he wanted to “shut” O’Sullivan up ahead of their World Championship match earlier this year, which The Rocket won 13-2.

“I’m going to try and keep up with him,” the world No. 1 told Eurosport.

“He’s playing really well, scored well last night. It was a different match today against Anda he was playing a winner. Proper player.

“For him to win that is a proper win. I’m going to have to play well for 70-80% of the match to have a chance. If I go missing like I did today I’ll get beat, he’s playing too well for that.”

Judd Trump says he has still been feeling ill despite producing an excellent performance to beat Mark Selby 6-3 at the UK Championship.

Trump recorded his 1,000th career win and it came against ‘The Jester from Leicester’ on Friday evening to book his place in the semi-finals for only the fourth time in his decorated career where he will face Ding Junhui.

‘The Juddernaut’ held a commanding 5-1 lead before Selby pulled two frames and looked set to mount a comeback, but the four-time world champion could not stop Trump from sealing the win at the Barbican in York.

Speaking to Eurosport after the match, Trump said he felt frustrated throughout the contest which was mostly due to him feeling under the weather.

“It’s obviously a good win,” he said in the Eurosport studio.

“I don’t feel great in this moment in time, I’m just happy to get over the line. I’m still struggling [with illness].

“I’m in a bit of a bad mood really, I was going through the motions a little bit, just trying to do what I could. I was hoping Mark would miss a little bit to give me a chance.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan v Hossein Vafaei