World No. 1 Judd Trump defeated veteran John Higgins 9-4 to reach the semifinals of the Snooker Tour Championship on Sunday.

Trump, 30, won four frames in a row to stand on the verge of victory at 8-3. 45-year-old Higgins managed to take one frame back, but could not stop the reigning world champion wrapping it up at 9-4.

Trump will face Stephen Maguire in the last four after the Scot defeated Australia's Neil Robertson on Saturday.

Maguire, 39, replaced Ding Junhui in the eight-man event in Milton Keynes, as China's top player decided to pull out of the competition to avoid extensive travel from China to the U.K..

The other two quarterfinal matches will see Mark Selby face off against Chinese hopeful Yan Bingtao, and Shaun Murphy take on Mark Allen.

The competition, which features the top eight players on the one-year ranking list, is the first ranking tournament since the snooker season was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, the snooker season resumed with the non-ranking Championship League, which was also held at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

Since June 1, elite and professional sporting events in the U.K. have been allowed to resume behind closed doors. 

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