Judd Trump reached yet another ranking semi-final thanks to a 5-2 victory over Martin Gould at the World Grand Prix.
It's been a hectic few weeks in the sport of snooker and its best player has danced every dance, recent defeats to Neil Robertson at the UK Championship and Li Hang in the Scottish Open suggesting that he might just be running out of gas.
But after a solid first-round display, Trump spoke of his desire to dig deep for one final time in 2020 and he left viewers in no doubt as to his credentials with another step forward here against a dangerous opponent.
Gould was glued to his chair throughout the first half-hour of the match, scoring just four points as Trump raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to breaks of 101 and 142. Frame four saw Trump forced to sit and suffer as Gould made a century of his own, but prospects of a rally suffered a devastating hit when Trump took the following frame on the black.
Again Gould picked himself up to get back within two, but Trump sealed victory with a 55 break to become the first man into the last four. Whatever the outcome this week, he'll have made the quarters or better in every appearance this season, a remarkable addition to his growing list of achievements.
Next will be a blockbuster semi-final against Ronnie O'Sullivan, who pounced on a huge mistake from Kyren Wilson to win 5-3.
In a re-run of their World Championship final in August, Wilson appeared well-set for a measure of revenge when leading 2-0 and then restoring his two-frame cushion at 3-1, before an 84 break from O'Sullivan halved the deficit.
Then came the pivotal moment of the match as Wilson, leading by 13 points and with just pink and black remaining, managed to go in-off while attempting to pot the pink. In doing so, he left O'Sullivan with a relatively simple task to level the match, and he took it.
Both the following two frames could have gone Wilson's way, but the ripples of that remarkable error could be seen as O'Sullivan took each of them to set up a Friday night showdown between sorcerer and apprentice.
"He seems to be in the semi-finals and final of every tournament he plays in," said O'Sullivan. "For me, it’s a good opportunity. I enjoy the games with Judd - he plays the game the way I think it should be played.
"You’ve got to bring your A-game."
Jack the lad back on-song
Jack Lisowski needed less than an hour to beat Robert Milkins 4-0 and reach the third round of snooker's World Grand Prix.
Almost exactly a year on from his last ranking final appearance, Lisowski looked back in similar form as breaks of 130 and 127 across the middle of the match helped him to a 58-minute victory.
Milkins, who ousted Neil Robertson on Monday night, lost a tight first frame but managed just six points thereafter as Lisowski roared back into form, just in time for the Masters next month - an event he only recently qualified for.
There were signs at the UK Championship recently that Lisowski, a good friend of Judd Trump, was nearing his best and they were underlined here, as he earned a quarter-final meeting with Chinese world number 30 Zhao Xintong, who dumped out John Higgins in a protracted 4-3 victory.
Higgins battled back from 3-1 down to draw level before Zhao took the deciding frame.
In the same half of the draw, Hossein Vafaei caused a surprise as he beat Ding Junhui 4-1, breaks of 134 and 51 sealing the deal.
Ding had looked in excellent touch in the first round, threatening a maximum in a one-sided win, but was below his best here as a frustrating year came to an abrupt end.
Vafaei will face Mark Selby in the last eight, after the three-time world champion beat Anthony McGill 4-2 in a match he both began and finished in heavy-scoring form.
Selby kicked things off with breaks of 134 and 58 and after McGill had levelled up at 2-2, the Leicester man was back on the front foot with breaks of 86 and 91 enough to see him progress.