Wojciech Szewczyk notched up exceptional victories over Shane van Boening and Wiktor Zielinski on his way to the World Pool Championship semi-finals, while Fedor Gorst, Eklent Kaci and Johann Chua also advanced in Saudi Arabia.

Szewczyk needed a wildcard to compete in this year’s tournament as a consequence of him not being a WNT professional, although the Polish cueist has fully harnessed that opportunity and now sets his sights on the biggest title of his career, a year on from an elusive World 10-Ball Championship triumph.

The world number 36 claimed six of the last seven racks to complete a statement victory over 2022 champion Van Boening, before leaving Polish compatriot Zielinski helpless in an emphatic 11-5 victory in his first quarter-final in nine years.

Fedor Gorst will await Szewczyk in the semi-finals after the world number two emphatically overcame European Open runner-up Anton Raga, who had ended the hopes of 2018 champion Joshua Filler in the last 16.

Raga gained a foothold in the contest early on against Filler but he was unable to emulate that in the quarter-finals as Gorst executed a sensational table-length bank on the nine ball to lead 4-1. Raga had hit a below-par safety attempt after missing position on the nine using the bridge.

A missed bank on the eight ball handed Raga an opportunity, though, he was unsuccessful in putting any racks together and handed the ascendancy back. Gorst recorded the first break and run of the match and followed that with an unbelievable jump shot with precise position on his way to obtaining an 8-2 lead.

A couple of misses and a positional error allowed Raga a route back into the match but the Filipino was unable to grasp his chance as Gorst completed an 11-5 win – a first commanding victory of the tournament for him, having needed his battling qualities in a gruelling campaign.

The World Pool Masters champion had beaten Chris Melling in the last 16, with a poor safety shot at 9-9 proving particularly costly for the Brit. That was the latest in a string of battles for Gorst, who needed to overturn a 7-1 deficit against Iraq’s Ameer Ali on Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Johann Chua reached the semi-finals for the first time in his career, compiling a magnificent seven break and runs in a complete performance as he swept aside Spanish Open winner Dang Junhui in an 11-3 win.

World Cup of Pool champion Chua, who was competing in his second World Nineball Championship quarter-final ten years after his first, had ended the hopes of last year’s runner-up Mohammad Soufi in the last 16.

Former UK Open winner Eklent Kaci defeated Marc Bijsterbosch in the last 16 in emphatic fashion, before beating Jeffrey Ignacio 11-7 to reach the semi-finals, coming through an edgy contest that was littered with errors from both players.

Ignacio had kept with Kaci during the early exchanges of the quarter-final, although a crucial scratch at five apiece allowed the Albanian to pull away. A couple of errors and careless positional play at times hindered the Filipino’s hopes.

The World Pool Championship semi-finals are held on Saturday afternoon at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before the extended race-to-15 final takes place with the eventual champion receiving the $250,000 top prize.