Jamie Burnett became the fourth consecutive player from outside the top 16 to reach the final of the Roewe Shanghai Masters by thrashing Jamie Cope 6-1.
Glasgow's Burnett, seeded 36th, was playing in his first ranking semi-final, but showed few signs of nerves as he marched past former Grand Prix and China Open finalist Cope. Burnett joins 2007 champion Dominic Dale, 2008 winner Ricky Walden and 2009 runner-up Liang Wenbo in the line of dark horses to get to the final at the Grand Stage. He'll face Ali Carter or Mark Selby for the title tomorrow.
Cope, nicknamed the Shotgun, mis-fired throughout the contest, making unforced errors in every frame as his potting skills deserted him. Burnett won the first frame with a break of 46 then came from 53-11 behind to nick the next with a fine 54 clearance.
Cope scored just nine points in the next two frames as Burnett ran in breaks of 58 and 52 for 4-0. Cope should have won the fifth after Burnett broke down on 52 but missed an easy final green at 43-63 and his opponent capitalised.
Cope finally got on to the scoreboard in a scrappy sixth after Burnett missed a tough final blue to a centre pocket, but it was soon over as Burnett took control of frame seven with a 48 and eventually sealed it by potting the brown.
"Jamie struggled and I had to take advantage, although I didn't score heavily, I needed two or three chances in every frame," said 34-year-old Burnett, a pro since 1992. "I'm just happy to be through to my first final. Today was my first time on a one-table set up and it was fantastic, I really enjoyed it. It was a great atmosphere and I hope this event won't be the last time I get this far.
"The conditions this week have been tough for everyone, a lot of the top players have been struggling. For some reason I have adapted better than others, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and hope to go one more."
This run has come out of the blue for the Scot, who lost his opening match 3-0 to Adrian Gunnell in the 12bet.com World Open qualifiers and lies in 105th place on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit. "I had no expectations coming here," he added. "I knew I had a very tough game in the wild card round against Tian Pengfei so I wasn't looking any further than that. It was only when I was on the plane that I found out Ronnie O'Sullivan had pulled out so if I won I would get a bye to the last 16. That put more pressure on me but I tried to just take it one game at a time.
"I've been second favourite in every match but I've been fighting and trying hard. I know I'll need to score heavier tomorrow.
"I've not been sleeping well, I've had between two and four hours every night and was awake by 2am last night. I feel ok on the table but as soon as the matches are over I'm tired."
Stoke's Cope said: "I didn't start well, I didn't take my chances early on and that set the pattern for the match. I just played badly and struggled to get into the game."
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