Judd Trump reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship after surviving Kyren Wilson's stirring fightback to win 6-4 in Milton Keynes.
World number one Trump, who won the tournament in 2011, was made to dig deep by Wilson who fought back from 3-0 down to level the match at 3-3 and then 4-4.
Trump will play Lu Ning in the last four on Saturday after the Chinese world number 40 beat Joe Perry 6-4.
"It was tough," said Trump, who made two century breaks and four more over 50. "Especially at 4-4. He was in the balls, he was looking like he had a good chance to go 5-4 up really.
Hear from our world number one, @judd147t, who is into the semi finals of the @Betway UK Championship after beating Kyren Wilson #baizeofglory pic.twitter.com/I6NzSuqfqE — World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) December 4, 2020
"So I was delighted he missed the blue and left me that opportunity and I knew it was my time.
"If I missed there I was probably going to lose the match because my confidence was kind of knocked by what happened."
Neil Robertson will play China's Zhou Yuelong in the other semi-final after producing his best display of the season to beat Mark Selby 6-2.
Robertson made breaks of 75, 122 and 63 to race into a 3-0 lead and although Selby pulled it back to 3-2, the Australian potted a superb long red before clearing up with 56 to go 4-2 ahead.
Two-time winner Robertson followed that up with runs of 91 and then 130 for his seventh ton of the tournament.
"From start to finish that was very good, it was one of my best performances of the season, probably the best," Robertson said. "I played some fantastic stuff to go 3-0 up."
Zhou, 22, thrashed 9-0 by Robertson in the European Masters final in January, reached the semi-finals of a Triple Crown event for the first time with a 6-4 win against Jack Lisowski.
World number 25 Zhou secured his second straight win against a top-16 opponent after knocking out John Higgins in the previous round.
