In a match which saw a combined 163 ton plus scores hit and 14 180s, the number three seed from The Netherlands made it to the semi-finals by beating the two-time winner of the competition in Frimley Green, England, 5-3.

The 26-year-old raced to a 4-1 lead before his English opponent came back to within one set of him, picking up checkouts of 144 and 121 on the way.

But Noppert won the eighth set 3-0 to claim the victory.

In today’s other games, top seed Glen Durrant hit 58 scores of 100 or more plus four 180s as he defeated Lithuania’s Darius Labanauskas.

World number one Durrant was 2-1 down, but the Englishman fired off the next four sets in a row to seal victory.

His semi-final opponent will be England’s Jamie Hughes after he came out on top of a thrilling battle with three-time champion Martin Adams which finished 5-4.

Adams won the first two sets and was 2-0 up in the third before Hughes started fighting back to go 4-3 up.

The all-England tie was sent into a final set when Adams claimed the fourth, but Hughes held his nerve to progress to the semis for the second consecutive years.

England’s Darryl Fitton completes the semi-final line-up after winning 5-4 against Geert de Vos of Belgium.

The 54-year-old was 4-2 up before De Vos, who knocked out 2015 world champion Scott Mitchell in the second round, levelled matters.

Fitton stopped the mini rot though in the final set, which had to be won by two clear legs, and he took it 4-2.

In the women’s tournament, England’s Lisa Ashton and Corrine Hammond of Australia made it to tomorrow’s final after winning their semi-final encounters 2-0 against Aileen de Graaf of The Netherlands and Russian player Anastasia Dobromyslova respectively.