Mark Williams scored a vital 3-0 victory over Si Jiahui in the last match of Group D at the BetVictor Championship League to earn a place in the final phase.
The three-time Crucible king will be back in action on Wednesday in Leicester alongside Long Zehuang, David Gilbert, Ali Carter, Scott Donaldson, Martin O'Donnell and two more players. The winners of the last two groups will contest the final on Wednesday night.
Remarkably, the first eight matches played on Monday finished in 2-2 draws, leaving Groups D and H finely poised heading into the last set of fixtures. Williams, seeking a 27th career ranking title, compiled breaks of 90 and 87 in drawing 2-2 with Stuart Carrington, then made a 130 in taking a 2-0 lead over Ben Woollaston, only for his opponent to fight back to level.
Woollaston then beat Carrington 3-1, which meant Williams had to win his closing tie to top the table. And the Welshman comfortably saw off Si with a top run of 96.
In Group H, O'Donnell let slip a 2-0 lead in his first match against Matthew Stevens, finishing 2-2. He then fell 1-0 behind against Jak Jones but hit back with superb breaks of 138 and 133 to lead 2-1, before losing the last frame. In his last match, Welsh Open finalist O'Donnell made a crucial colours clearance in the final frame to beat Ma Hailong 3-1.
Jones and Stevens still had the chance to top the group by winning their contest, but they finished 2-2 to leave O'Donnell on top.