Maguire faces Murphy in last four

Maguire held his nerve to complete the semi-final line-up

Stephen Maguire will play Shaun Murphy in the semi-final of the UK Championship at Telford after a 9-7 quarter-final win over John Higgins.

Maguire looked to be wobbling when he let slip a 7-5 lead, but Higgins failed to take full advantage and breaks of 75 and 74 sealed Maguire's victory.

Earlier, Murphy strolled into the last four with a 9-3 win over Stephen Lee.

Murphy set up victory by winning seven frames in a row in the afternoon session, having lost the first.

Lee took that opening frame with a 91 break, but then became a spectator as Murphy won seven straight frames to move within touching distance of victory by the end of the afternoon session.

After the restart Lee won the first two frames, but it was just delaying the inevitable as Murphy won the two frames he needed to reach the last four.

Murphy has enjoyed a disappointing run of form since his surprise world title win in 2005, with just one ranking tournament win, but despite losing the first frame, he was dominant against Lee.

He made four breaks of 50 or more as he romped to within two frames of victory in the afternoon session, and despite Lee's brief rally, Murphy rounded things off with frame-winning breaks of 98 and 85 to clinch victory.

Murphy and Maguire will meet in the second semi-final on Saturday, the day after Ali Carter takes on Marco Fu in the first match.