China's Zhou Yuelong clinches spot in semifinals at WST China Open

China's Zhou Yuelong fought back from 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to edge England's David Gilbert 6-5, advancing to the semifinals at the World Snooker Tour China Open in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, on Friday.

Gilbert took the opener with a 65 break and snatched the second after initially trailing 61-0. The 45-year-old then grabbed leads of 3-0 and 4-1, before Zhou reeled off three successive frames to level the contest at 4-4.

Gilbert moved back in front 5-4, but Zhou equalized again before taking a tense decider, as Gilbert's hopes came to an end when a tough pot on the penultimate red rattled around the jaws of a top corner.

"Today's match was extremely tight," said Zhou. "I was well behind in the first half, but that didn't disrupt my rhythm. I kept waiting for my opportunities and eventually fought my way back."

Zhou, who battled through two qualifying rounds, has now knocked out Mark Williams, Liu Hongyu and Gilbert to reach his 10th ranking semifinal. His next opponent will be Thailand's Noppon Saengkham.

Considered one of the best players yet to win a ranking title, the World No. 22  Zhou is aiming for his fifth appearance in a final. The 28-year-old lost his previous four championship matches, most recently suffering a 9-8 reversal against Mark Allen at last season's English Open.