John Parrott continued his march towards another overseas crown by reaching the last four of the £280,000 German Open in Bingen last night thanks to a 5-3 success over Stephen Hendry.

In the match of the tournament so far, both players compiled century breaks and both contrived to make mistakes that cost them crucial frames. The most decisive error came in the final frame when 28year-old Hendry, on a break of 50, failed to pot the green that would have left his opponent requiring snookers.

Parrott, a winner of titles in eight different countries, took the green and a few moments later cleared the last four colours to win on the black. Hendry was clearly incensed at losing again and he has now gone nine months since his last tournament success.

"Of course I should have potted the green," he said through gritted teeth before storming off.

Earlier in the match Hendry notched the 400th century break of his 12-year professional career after twice going close in the previous round against Jimmy White.

Parrott now plays world champion Ken Doherty in a best of 11 frames semi-final today. He reached three figures in the fifth frame to go 3-2 up and could easily have been 41 up.

In frame three he potted the blue to lead 58-38 but then contrived to give away 12 penalty points with Hendry clearing pink and black for an unlikely frame success. Parrott snookered himself potting the blue and then inexplicably tried to play for a snooker when he didn't need one.

"I've done some stupid things in my time but that takes the biscuit," said Parrott later. "Thankfully I made a great clearance to win the fourth frame and at 2-2 I didn't feel so bad."

In today's opening semi-final world number two John Higgins will play defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. Higgins, the inaugural German Open champion defeated Anthony Hamilton 5-4.