Stuart Bingham came through a pulsating encounter with Jack Lisowski 13-11 to set up a quarter-final showdown with Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Cazoo World Championship.
The last time Bingham crossed cues with seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan at the Theatre of Dreams was in 2015. It was Bingham who scored a momentous 13-9 victory and he went on to beat Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy to capture Crucible glory and become World Champion.
Recent times have been more trying for Bingham, who has fallen out of the top 16. He had to battle through qualifying to earn his place in the final stages this year, scoring a 10-9 win over Stuart Carrington and a 10-8 defeat of Louis Heathcote at the English Institute of Sport.
It’s the first time that four qualifiers have made the quarter-finals since 1992, with Bingham being joined by Jak Jones, David Gilbert and Stephen Maguire in the last eight.
Defeat comes as a bitter pill to swallow for six-time ranking event finalist Lisowski, who ends his season still chasing a maiden piece of silverware.
They came into the evening session with Bingham holding a 9-7 advantage. The Basildon cueman extended his lead to three by taking the first frame tonight, before Lisowski hit back to make it 10-8.
Bingham was in control of the 19th, when Lisowski summoned a clearance of 51 to steal. He potted a tricky final black to pull within one at 10-9.
The last before the mid-session came down to the pink, with Lisowski spurning a routine chance with the frame at his mercy and another from long range. Those errors were punished by Bingham, who nailed a double to the middle to move 11-9 up.
Lisowski appeared to have put those misses behind him when play resumed after the interval. Breaks of 84 and 124 helped him to a quickfire two frames to draw level at 11-11.
A hugely dramatic 23rd frame had looked to be going the way of 32-year-old Lisowski, until he missed a straight pink to the top right. Bingham stepped in and cleared the colours to move one away from the win. The six-time ranking event winner held his nerve to get over the line at the first time of asking, winning the 24th by a 75-0 scoreline to seal a famous victory.
“I’ve been working on a few things with my coach Chris Henry. Something clicked after the second session and I felt really good going into tonight. I just have to get my scoring boots on and see where it goes,” said 47-year-old Bingham.
“We will see tomorrow how it goes. I watched a little bit of Ronnie’s match with Ryan Day. He gave him a fair few chances. I hope he plays like that tomorrow and over the next couple of days. Ronnie is Ronnie. I will have to touch up on my game and score a bit heavier to have a chance.
“I’m going for my second and he is going for his eighth. We have our own pressures. He is maybe coming close to his retirement and I’m sure he will want to get to eight. To be honest, he probably should be on 12 at the moment. He does have that added pressure, but you can’t take anything for granted with Ronnie. He is the best player that has ever picked up a cue. You need to play really well to have a chance."