Wilson, who was beaten by Ronnie O’Sullivan last year is the only one of the four English players in this year’s semi-finals who has not yet won the title, but this could be the year for the player nicknamed "The Warrior", who impressed against 2005 world champion Murphy this evening.

Murphy struck first before Wilson made breaks of 110 and 72 on the way to to giving himself a 3-1 advantage at the mid-session interval.

Wilson raced out of the blocks after the interval with two quickfire centuries as he cleared the table with breaks of 127 and 121 to open up a 5-1 lead.

Murphy cut the deficit with a break of 70 in the next before Wilson claimed a dramatic final frame which he initially looked to have sealed with a break of 71.

However, he opened the door for his opponent with an unintentional foul that saw the yellow go in, and Murphy looked set to pinch the frame before missing a red and allowing a relieved Wilson to open up a 6-2 advantage at the end of the session.

The other semi-final is evenly poised as three-time world champion Mark Selby is deadlocked at 4-4 with 2015 winner Stuart Bingham after their opening session.

Bingham took the first frame with a break of 60 before Selby levelled by pinching a tense second frame when he cleared the colours.

Selby had the momentum at this point and used it to open up a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval, before Bingham dominated after the resumption courtesy of breaks of 92 and 82, which helped him into a 4-3 lead.

An edgy final frame of the session was taken by Selby to ensure parity after the first session.

The semi-finals at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield are being played over four sessions and the best of 33 frames, with both contests set to conclude on Saturday (May 1).