Judd Trump came from 3-1 behind to beat Stuart Bingham 4-3 at the World Grand Prix after holding his nerve in a tense deciding frame.
Trump looked dead and buried when Bingham surged into a two-frame lead with breaks of 57, 88 and 132, but the world number one refused to buckle and produced a brilliant match-winning hand of 61 in the final frame to seal an unlikely victory.
Bingham has found results hard to come by so far this term, but he looked full of confidence as he dominated the early proceedings and still looked on course for victory even when Trump won the fifth frame courtesy of a sublime 101.
However, the momentum quickly shifted and though Bingham played on for snookers after Trump had done the bulk of the scoring in frame six, his efforts proved in vain as the match went to a decider.
A cleanly-struck long red afforded Bingham what appeared to be a golden first chance, but with the balls nicely spread, he inexplicably lost the white and was forced to play safe having barely made a dent on the scoreboard.
He was handed another bite of the cherry only moments later, but when he missed a tricky pink to the middle pocket, Trump was at his ruthless best as he bullied his way over the winning line with a series of ice-cool pots in a run of 61 that completed another Houdini act.
Trump, who will play Martin Gould in the last eight, told World Snooker Tour: "It was a really high standard up until 3-2 and then it got a little bit tense.
"We both had a few chances and in the end, I relied on Stuart missing that pink to the middle. If that goes in, it's game over.
"I've lost two deciders recently and luckily for me, this one went my way. It was a really good game; Stuart came out of the blocks fast, put me under pressure and I'm pleased with how I dealt with that and how I got back into the game.
"At 3-3 I'd like to have finished it in one visit but I got my chance my chance the second time and put it to bed. In the end, I'm really pleased to get through to the quarter-finals."
Ronnie O'Sullivan looked in really good touch as he breezed past Barry Hawkins 4-1.
O'Sullivan laid down his marker for the night when kicking off proceedings with a terrific century and he followed up by dominating frame two to extend his lead to 2-0.
Despite O'Sullivan adding a break of 58 in the third frame, Hawkins looked sure to get a frame on the board until he let his advantage slip and then had to watch on in frustration as O'Sullivan potted the re-spotted black and put himself on the cusp of victory.
The Rocket was all set to complete a 4-0 whitewash moments later when producing a fabulous break of 57 that was full of fine pots and exceptional positional play, but he somehow missed an easy brown off its spot to hand Hawkins a lifeline and allow him to reduce his arrears to 3-1.
However, when Hawkins broke down himself early in frame five, O'Sullivan finished the job with a silky hand of 51 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Kyren Wilson, who saw off Yan Bingtao 4-1.
On-song Selby holds off Wenbo
Mark Selby needed to be at his best to see off a stern challenge from Liang Wenbo, eventually prevailing 4-3.
Selby has been busy of late having won the Scottish Open in terrific style as recently as Sunday, and he maintained that form in another match where he needed to be on his mettle.
Wenbo isn't always the easiest to catch right but he was on a going day here and surged into a 3-2 lead with the help of breaks of 98, 79 and 90.
Having already made breaks of 63 and 56 himself, Selby didn't look flustered, even when falling behind, and he forced a decider with a typically nerveless run of 94 in frame six before capitalising on a Wenbo miss early in the seventh frame, a hand of 75 met with a thumbs up as he progressed to the second round.
Hossein Vafaei claimed a notable scalp when beating the in-form Zhou Yuelong 4-3.
Zhou Yuelong was a beaten semi-finalist at the UK Championship recently, but he failed to match that level of form on this occasion and found Vafaei a deserving winner.
Despite putting together breaks of 75, 60 and 60, Vafaei was always behind in the match until levelling the scores and 3-3 and then following up with a superb, match-winning run of 62 in frame seven.
Shaun Murphy's miserable season continued as he slipped to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Jack Lisowski.
Murphy was left to rue a couple of big turning points in the match as Lisowski cleared to the pink in frames two and three to move 2-1 in front having watched Murphy take the opening frame and establish healthy leads in the next two frames.
The 2005 world champion did rally with a break of 63 in frame four, but that would be his last moment of cheer as Lisowski took command thereafter.
A run of 56 moved Lisowski within a frame of victory and he set up a second-round clash with Robert Milkins when finishing off with another half-century in frame six.
Zhao Xintong won three frames on the bounce as he came from 2-1 behind to claim a 4-2 victory over Jamie Jones.