Defending champion Ding Junhui made light work of England's Robert Milkins with a 5-1 win to reach the last four of the Welsh Open on Friday.

The Chinese cueman has not won a major title since defeating Mark Selby in last year's final in south Wales.

But he looked somewhere near his best form as breaks of 50, 104 and 74 allowed him to sprint into a 4-0 lead.

Milkins finally showed off the snooker which got him to the last eight with a 108 after the break to dodge a 'bagel' scoreline but despite racking up a 52 in frame six, could only watch after an error allowed Ding to claw back and steal the frame and the match with a 63 clearance.

Milkins stopped the rot with a break of 108 in the fifth frame and made 52 in the next. But his failure to post a frame-winning contribution was punished by Ding, who sealed victory with a clearance of 63.

"I have been working hard," Ding told worldsnooker.com.

"I have just been a bit unlucky in a few tournaments," he added ahead of a semi-final against another Englishman in Stuart Bingham, who beat Ireland's former world champion Ken Doherty on Friday.