Ding Junhui had won just three matches in ranking events this season before this week's International Championship, but has found his game in Nanjing and reached the semi-finals with a 6-4 victory over World Champion Kyren Wilson.
Ding will face Xu Si in the semi-finals on Saturday, after Xiao Guodong meets Chis Wakelin on Friday. It's the third time ever that a ranking event has featured three players from mainland China in the semi-finals - and one of those occasions was last month's Wuhan Open.
China's greatest ever player Ding is quickly recovering from a poor start to the campaign and is now just two wins away from a 15th ranking title and first since the 2019 UK Championship. It's a surprise defeat for Crucible king Wilson who has already won the Xi'an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open this season and had been hunting his fourth piece of silverware in six months.
Breaks of 57, 72 and 84 helped world number nine Ding build a 4-1 lead. Wilson battled back to 4-4 with 57, 70 and 69, but 37-year-old Ding finished superbly with 129 and 123 to take the last two frames.
"I could really feel the support from the crowd - they wanted to see me perform well and get a good result," said Ding, who is on home turf in China's Jiangsu Province. "Kyren is World Champion and one of the most consistent top players at the moment, so this wasn’t an easy win. If I hadn’t played as well as I did today, it would have been tough to beat him.
"At 4-4, we both wanted to get that one-frame lead. It was crucial for momentum, the scoreline, and adjusting our mindsets. People might think that a poor start to the season affects the whole year. But sometimes things don’t go your way, and that’s out of my control. I’ve always approached each season like this, often starting to find form a bit later.
"For Chinese players, there has been high expectation and pressure on them over the last few years. Lately, they’ve been working extremely hard. Success doesn’t come immediately after turning professional, and it’s not easy to meet everyone’s expectations. It takes patience to allow players to grow."
Xu came from 5-3 down to edge out Gary Wilson 6-5 to continue the best week of his career, having already made a 147 and knocked out Judd Trump. From 3-3, Wilson made 105 and 136 to go 5-3 up, only for Xu to take three in a row with 58, 81 and 68 to reach the second ranking event semi-final of his career.
"I grew up watching Ding play and have been greatly inspired by him," said Xu. "So I’m really looking forward to the chance to play him in the semi-finals. I’ve been able to stick to my approach this week without giving up in tough situations."
Wakelin is enjoying his most consistent season so far and took another leap forward with a 6-5 win over John Higgins. The match was pulled off at 5-5 earlier in the day but when they returned, Wakelin capitalised on a safety error from Higgins to make an excellent match winning break of 62.
Wakelin, who knocked out Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams in the previous two rounds, is through to his fourth ranking event semi-final and second of the season having reached the same stage of the English Open. Victory over Xiao would boost the Englishman into the world's top 16 for the first time and make him a seeded player for the UK Championship.
"I know I'm capable of winning this and there's a lot on the line for me this week," said Wakelin on Wednesday. "It has been an amazing season so far and I'm so close now to really making it happen. I have got great people around me, I don't have anyone in my life who is a bad influence. I have an amazing girlfriend and we have just bought our first house together, and I have got great friends. Away from snooker I am in such a good place, compared to five years ago, and that makes the game so much easier."
