The match - played in front of a packed Crucible Theatre - was finely balanced at 8-8 after the first two sessions.

Both players continued to showcase their skills with half-century breaks early on Friday.

However, the turning point came when Wilson capitalised on unforced errors by Gilbert during the evening session.

Wilson strung together breaks of 93, 51, and 88 to win five frames in a row before Gilbert managed to respond with a brilliant 101 break.

This best-of-33 encounter will resume on Saturday afternoon, with Wilson needing just three frames to reach the final.

Coming off a convincing win against John Higgins, 32-year-old Wilson initially found it difficult to break away from Gilbert, the last remaining seeded player in the tournament.

A missed black in the 19th frame by Gilbert proved costly, and subsequent mistakes seemed to dent Gilbert's confidence. Wilson made the most of this shift in momentum, exhibiting growing strength with each frame.

While Gilbert's late century break provided a glimmer of hope, he faces a monumental task on Saturday to reach Sunday's final.

The other semi-final is all square at 8-8 between 2015 champion Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones.