World Champion Kyren Wilson overcame familiar foe Anthony McGill 5-4 to make the semi-finals of the Machineseeker German Masters at the Tempodrom in Berlin.
Wilson and McGill crossed cues in an epic 2020 World Championship semi-final, where the Warrior prevailed 17-16 after a marathon deciding frame, which lasted over an hour. Wilson has now won all four of their subsequent meetings.
Victory sees the Crucible king progress to the semi-finals, where he faces Xiao Guodong. Wilson is enjoying a fine first campaign as World Champion, having picked up silverware at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and the Xi'an Grand Prix. He will be hoping to add to that with the second German Masters crown of his career this weekend.
It was world number 40 McGill who was in control for much of today's match. After taking a tightly contested first two frames, he looked to be in control of the third before missing a straightforward red leading 60-6. Wilson ruthlessly hammered home a break of 68 in response to steal on the black. However, McGill was undeterred and made a sublime 134 in the next to lead 3-1 at the mid-session.
Wilson responded when play resumed by claiming two on the bounce to restore parity at 3-3. The next two frames were traded to set up a decider, where Wilson made a match winning 72 to book his place in the last four.
"It always seems to be a really close match when we play, it doesn't matter what tournament. Anthony is such a good competitor and match player, I know I just have to dig in. I know he will make it really tough for me. I'm proud of that break in the deciding frame because that took a lot of bottle," said 33-year-old Wilson.
"It's a shame how the World Championship semi-final ended because people forget how good that game was. It was so draining. I feel like we have held each other in really high regard after that and I would love to see him go on and kick on now because he is so good.
"All the players that come here want to make the semi-finals. It is magical. I was desparate to get over the line in that match and be a part of semi-final Saturday. I'm looking forward to taking on Xiao in front of a packed out crowd."
China's Xiao has been in red hot form this season and produced another clinical display to brush aside Irish 22-year-old Aaron Hill 5-0.
Victory this afternoon sees Xiao make his fifth semi-final of the campaign. He captured his maiden ranking title, 17 years on from first turning professional, at this season's Wuhan Open. Xiao overcame compatriot Si Jiahui in Wuhan and has since gone on to make the title match of the Champion of Champions, where he was beaten by Mark Williams.
A fine week for Hill ends in defeat. He can take solace from wins over Williams, Jimmy Robertson and Tom Ford to make his second ranking quarter-final.
Xiao conjured contributions of 95, 75, 114 and 113 on his way to this afternoon's win.