Judd Trump kept alive his hopes of a third successive ranking title as he battled past Stephen Maguire to reach the Northern Ireland Open semi-finals.
The English star trailed the Scot 3-1 and 4-3 but breaks of 71 and 54 in the final two frames edged him ahead.
A break of 74 contributed to Maguire’s 3-1 advantage, and while runs over 109 and 81 drew Trump level, the Scot moved ahead again before being pipped.
Trump will face compatriot Barry Hawkins in Saturday’s semi-finals.
World number three Trump’s victory was his 18th straight win following his triumphs at both the English Open and Wuhan Open in China.
Trump was the only member of the world’s top 10 to reach the quarter-finals of the Belfast event.
The tournament got underway last Sunday minus the ill Ronnie O’Sullivan, plus world champion Luca Brecel and big names Mark Selby and John Higgins, who had committed to playing in an exhibition event in Macau which was subsequently moved to December following the threat of disciplinary action from the World Snooker Tour (WST).
Saturday’s other semi-final will also be an all-English affair between Jack Lisowski and Chris Wakelin.
Hawkins also came through a high quality quarter-final as he earned a 5-4 victory over compatriot David Gilbert.
Breaks of 138 and 134 helped Hawkins into a lead 3-1, and a further 66 gave him restoring a two-frame advantage before Gilbert produced runs of 65 and 105 to set up a decider.
Despite the pink and black being badly positioned in the closing frame, Hawkins was able to fashion a match-winning break of 57 as he showed his renowned battling qualities.
Lisowski, who has lost all six of his ranking tournament finals, maintained his impressive Belfast form by earning a dominant 5-1 over Ricky Walden.
Walden fired a break of 132 to level at 1-1, but runs of 128, 81 and 73 enabled the 32-year-old to reach a 12th ranking semi-final.
Wakelin, whose only ranking tournament triumph came in last season’s Shoot Out, produced breaks of 62, 76 and 54 on his way to defeating China’s Yuan Sijun 5-2.
