Kyren Wilson overcame an ankle injury to beat Luca Brecel 6-4 in a thrilling finish, reaching the semi-finals of the Johnstone's Paint Masters and keeping alive his dream of lifting the Paul Hunter Trophy for the first time.
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The World Champion will take on world number one Judd Trump in a showpiece semi-final on Saturday night at Alexandra Palace. This will be their fourth meeting of the season - Wilson winning the finals of the Xi'an Grand Prix and BetVictor Northern Ireland Open, then Trump took revenge in the semi-finals of the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship. They also met in the last four of the Masters in 2018, Wilson coming from 5-2 down to win 6-5.
On that occasion the Kettering cueman lost to Mark Allen in the final, and he will be determined to go one step further this time and complete the second leg of the Triple Crown.
Wilson slept awkwardly on Wednesday night and woke up with pain in his ankle which left him struggling to walk. The injury has since improved and he was given permission to wear trainers during tonight's match, though the pain hindered his performance.
"I rate that as one of the best wins of my career," said the world number two. "Not because of my performance, but because of what I had to deal with. I couldn't put weight on the ankle or stand how I usually would, which was frustrating. But I saw it as a challenge and something I had never had to deal with before, and it was a test for me to see how I could handle it. I would play here on one leg so there was no danger of me pulling out."
Wilson's breaks of 71 and 67 put him 2-0 up, then Brecel took the third with a run of 96 and had first chance in the fourth but missed a tricky black on 15 and had to watch his opponent make 64 to lead 3-1 at the interval. Back came Brecel with an 84 in frame five, before Wilson's 78 made it 4-2. The Englishman led 25-4 in frame seven when he failed to pot a red with the rest, handing Belgium's Brecel the opportunity to make 83 to halve the gap.
A cracking long red set Wilson up for a break of 55 in frame eight to lead 5-3. He glimpsed the winning line in the ninth but missed a tough pink, trying to screw back for the yellow when he led 44-41, and Brecel kept his hopes alive by clearing the colours. Both players passed up chances in the tenth, which lasted 42 minutes and came down to a tense battle on the final pink. Brecel eventually misjudged a safety, and Wilson drilled the mid-range pink into a top corner.
"I really enjoyed the game, though it was nervy towards the end," Wilson added. "I was so pleased to see the pink drop. I'm really looking forward to playing Judd, we will both be up for it and hopefully bring the best out of each other. It's an awesome feeling to be a part of the rivalry with him because he has been by far the best player in the world over the last few years. He inspires me to work hard to become a better player myself."