Mark Allen has booked a date in the Cazoo World Championship semi-final after grinding down Jak Jones at the Crucible Theatre.
World No.3 Allen came into the match as favourite but found his Welsh opponent in inspired form and it was only in the third session on Wednesday morning that his challenge eventually began to fade.
Antrim man Allen has only ever reached the last four once before - in 2009 - and came into the tournament on the back of three ranking event wins already in 2023.
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Jones showed signs of fatigue in the third and final session in Sheffield as he missed a series of balls he had been potting with ease all tournament.
A couple of poor missed pots allowed Allen to come to the table a number of times in the 23rd frame of the quarter-final and, though not at his best, he found a way to score enough points to leave Jones needing snookers.
Allen did give up two four point penalties to give Jones a chance in an hour long closing frame. But then Allen kept his cool and potted the brown and blue balls to secure a 13-10 victory.
He will face Mark Selby or John Higgins in the semi-final where the Crucible is altered to a one-table set-up.
"I felt like when I won the last frame of yesterday's session to get to eight all that he would have felt like he missed the boat a bit," Allen said after the game on BBC.
"I don't mean this to sound bad to Jak but that was a three or four out of 10 performance. But that's a match I would have lost a few years ago."
"I'm so disappointed with how I played in this match," Jones said afterwards. "The occasion got on top of me a little bit."
The scrappy finale to the game was in stark contrast to what had gone before as the pair produced some brilliant snooker to come into the final session level at eight frames apiece.
Welsh commentator Dominic Dale described Allen's demeanour earlier in the game as 'serene' even though he never seemed to be quite in control of the cue ball or the match.
It's the first time in the last five years that Allen has even got beyond the last 16 and many believe he is the man to beat after a stellar run of form earlier in the season.
He has enjoyed the most successful season of his career during the 2022/23 campaign as he lifted three ranking event titles, including the UK Championship.
Allen's last semi-final appearance at the Crucible ended in a 17-13 defeat to eventual champion John Higgins.
He feels he has never been closer to achieving his dream — winning the world title to join legends Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins and Dennis Taylor as a Northern Ireland sporting great.
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