China Open Snooker 2016: Saturday's Scores, Results and Updated Draw Schedule

Judd Trump continued his red-hot form with a whitewash win over Stephen Maguire on Saturday, racing into the final of the 2016 China Open Snooker.

Juddernaut didn't waste any time grabbing the win at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium, although he wasn't exactly challenged by Maguire, who could barely make a shot.

Ricky Walden emerged victorious in the other semi-final clash against John Higgins, with a 6-5 triumph booking his place in Sunday’s showpiece.

In an absorbing match, both players traded blows with some wonderful play. Higgins recovered from 5-3 down to force a decider, but Walden played beautifully under pressure, knocking in a century break of 131 to win through.

Here’s a thorough recap of the semi-finals, plus the results and schedule for Saturday’s play.

Semi-Final 1
Semi-Final 2
Final (Sunday)
John Higgins	5-6	Ricky Walden
Judd Trump	6-0	Stephen Maguire
Judd Trump	-	Ricky Walden

Saturday Recap

Trump has been in sensational form throughout the 2016 China Open, and he reserved arguably his best performance for his semi-final against Maguire, beating the Scot without conceding a single frame.

Maguire entered Saturday's contest flying high after booking his Crucible spot on Friday, but from the opening frame, it became clear Saturday would not be his day. A poor safety shot gave Juddernaut a look at the side pocket, and he quickly bagged his first century of the match, as you can see below:

Maguire's potting has been nothing short of spectacular of late, but he struggled avoiding the jaws against Trump and saw plenty of shots kick back out the pocket. A fluke on the pink nearly handed him the third frame, but even when the table went his way, Trump found a way to steal the frame.

The Ace in the Pack was simply superb, as evidenced by this remarkable escape:

During the same frame, Maguire saw another pot rattle out of the pocket, which summed up his day. Matt from Pro Snooker Blog thinks he should consider himself fortunate he didn't play like that on Friday:

Trump still hasn't won a rankings title in 2016, but his play has improved dramatically since he won the Championship League, and he'll enter the upcoming World Championship in the form of his life.

Snooker fans have been waiting for Juddernaut to take the next step and finally win his first title at the Crucible, and with a number of top favourites struggling and Trump playing better than ever, this might be the year.

Dan Mullan/Getty Images

The clash between Higgins and Walden always seemed poised to be a standout contest, and these two didn’t disappoint in a gripping tussle.

Neither player was able to get away from the other in this one. The Scot was in control in the opening frame, although Walden quickly cancelled out Higgins' lead in the second with a stylish break of 82. Then he went ahead with another decent run of 66.

Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Higgins did bounce back to make it 2-2, but after the interval the Englishman produced this wonderful 113 break to take the lead again:

It should have been 4-2 to Walden in the next frame, although he missed on the brown, letting his opponent back in among the balls. Higgins made no mistake and levelled this one at 3-3.

The man from Chester continued to recover well from setbacks, though, as he took the seventh. As the Live Snooker feed added, things were getting tense at this point:

It was a crucial frame that could have swung either way, and Walden seemed galvanised at coming out on top. That was evident in the eighth frame as he opened up a two-frame gap for the first time in the match, with a run of 96 putting Walden one frame away from a spot in the final.

Higgins has been in these types of matches on so many occasions, though, so perhaps it was little surprise to see him stride up to the table and nonchalantly knock in a break of 99. When he levelled things up in the 10th frame after a dramatic in-off from the Englishman, he looked like the likely winner.

Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images

But after the four-time world champion missed a long red, Walden stepped in to produce one of the best breaks of his career.

He put together a fine run of 131, only missing the final black, to move into the final with a swagger. Michael Annison of Cue Action Blog thinks the best man won on the day:

So did Higgins, per World Snooker's official website:

"

I’m not too disappointed because I didn’t play well enough to win. If I had won it would have been an injustice to Ricky because he played far better than me. I was just managing to stay in touch and he was unlucky when he went in-off the black in the tenth frame. He scored heavily and I didn’t play to my best.

"

After he got better and better throughout the competition this week, Walden's Sunday opponent, whether that is Trump or Maguire, will have to produce something special to get the better of him.