Mark Williams is on the verge of reaching his third Embassy World Championship final in five years after continuing to dominate his encounter with a below-par Stephen Lee at The Crucible Theatre.
Williams will go into today's evening session holding a 16-8 lead and requiring just one more frame to set up a meeting with either Paul Hunter or Ken Doherty.
At one stage it looked as if the match would even be over with a session to spare as Williams, 10-6 up overnight, reeled off the first four frames to complete a pre-interval whitewash.
But Lee managed to share the second half of the session to at least earn a stay of execution against the 28-year-old Williams.
The 2000 world champion Williams has already regained the number one spot in the world rankings after losing it to Ronnie O'Sullivan 12 months ago.
The match was effectively all over as a contest with Williams' four frames surge before the interval against a dispirited looking Lee moving him into a 14-6 lead.
Williams had performed sluggishly in the second session yesterday but he quickly re-asserted himself against world number seven Lee.
In the other semi-final Hunter will require only two more frames this afternoon to dispose of 1997 champion Doherty.
Hunter maintained his six frame advantage over the Irishman to lead 15-9 after the pair shared eight frames in the third session and he is on the verge of his first world final.
Neither Hunter or Doherty were at their best as nerves started to creep into their play. But Doherty was never able to put his opponent under serious pressure and he was never closer than four frames to the 24-year-old.
The 22nd frame lasted nearly 38 minutes and was littered with errors before Doherty edged home to reduce his deficit to 13-9. But Hunter responded with runs of 74 and 54 to take the final two frames.