Robertson beats Murphy in World Grand Prix semi

Neil Robertson fought back from 5-3 down to beat Masters champion Shaun Murphy 6-5 and reach the World Grand Prix final in Hong Kong.

The Australian left-hander knocked in three centuries, including a 114 break in the deciding frame, to win his semi-final.

Robertson, 43, will play either world number one Judd Trump or 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham in Sunday’s best-of-19-frames final.

Robertson was 19th in the world rankings before the World Grand Prix, but his run to the final has boosted his hopes of returning to the top 16 and therefore securing an automatic spot at the World Championship in April.

The 2010 world champion was beaten in qualifying last year, ending a run of 19 consecutive appearances at the Crucible Theatre.

Murphy, who won the world title as a qualifier in 2005, is faced with potentially needing to go through that route again to reach the main draw in Sheffield this year.

There are two ranking events remaining before the cut-off point for World Championship seedings – the Players Championship and the Tour Championship.