Wilson, who lost to Allen in the final of the Masters in January, took an 11-5 lead into the last session of their quarter-final.

And although Allen kept his hopes alive with breaks of 54 and 40 in the opening frame, Wilson took the next two to set up a last-four clash with either Higgins or Trump.

Wilson, who had lost in the quarter-finals in each of the last two years, told the BBC: "I definitely wouldn't say it was the biggest win of my career, [but] it's up there. It was always a goal of mine to reach the one-table set-up and I just can't wait to get out there and experience it.

"You have to sometimes seize on your opponent when you sense a little bit of weakness and I could feel that Mark was maybe struggling a little bit towards the end of last night, so every little mistake that he made I felt like I punished it and played really well."

Earlier in the day, Higgins fought back from a four-frame deficit against Trump to head into this evening's decisive session at 8-8.

Trump moved into a 7-3 lead thanks to a break of 89 in the ninth frame and by snatching the next on a re-spotted black following a brilliant clearance of 64.

But Higgins recovered his composure superbly to reel off five frames in succession with breaks of 65, 61, 53, 56 and 51, the Scot also enjoying an outrageous fluke when potting the green in getting out of a snooker in frame 14.

At 8-7 Higgins led for the first time in the match and Trump did well to win frame 16 and avoid falling further behind.