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Mark Allen will meet defending champion Ding Junhui in the final of the Jiangsu Classic in China after beating Shaun Murphy 5-2 in the semi-final.

A break of 86 helped the Northern Irishman get off to a perfect start before Murphy came back from 55-8 down to level matters.

A 61 from Allen follow but a 74 for Murphy left the score level at the interval.

However, then Allen came back after the break in inspired form to take three frames in a row and the match.

Breaks of 72 and 88 helped him go 4-2 in front before he edged a tight seventh frame to take the match.

Earlier, hometown star Ding Junhui hammered Marco Fu 5-1 to delight the fans in Wuxi City.

Ding, 22, won the opening frame from 48-0 down before Hong Kong cueman Fu sneaked the second to level at 1-1.

The defending champion was too strong from that point on, recording breaks of 104, 124, 97 and 72 in less than an hour to see off Fu.

Ding and Allen both met in the group stages of the event with Ding enjoying a 2-1 victory.

Eurosport