Stephen Lee dug deep as Mark Williams lost an astonishing first-round clash at the Bank of Beijing China Open 5-4 despite making four centuries.
The Welshman, ranked number two in the world, has been in superb form for much of this season and was straight into his stride today with breaks of 100 and 133 giving him a two-frame lead.
Lee refused to wilt in the face of the onslaught and battled back to go 3-2 ahead but Williams stepped up a gear again in frame six and a 104 and a 137 took him to within one frame of victory.
World number 19 Lee forced a decider and, though he trailed 70-11 after a 53 from Williams, produced a clearance of 61 when it mattered most to come through a remarkable encounter.
‘Mark played some terrific stuff and I was happy just to get to 4-4, but the clearance in the last was very special and brought back a lot of confidence,’ said Lee.
‘I had a great run when I cleaned up and it's great when you treat the crowd to that. At times I looked helpless and anyone would have as Mark played some terrific snooker - every time he got to the table it seemed there was a century break.’
Williams added: ‘I played well enough and can't grumble as Stephen made a great dish-up to win the match. It's not often you get four tons and lose and I played well but I can't do much about it.
‘He just won the scrappy frames and I was unlucky in two of them. It's always nice to play in good conditions and the table was lovely, I just got beat.
‘If I'd had a good run here then I would've ended up as world number one but now it's up for grabs in the World Championship.’
Home favourite Ding Junhui got out of jail to reach the second round.
The Masters champion trailed 4-1 to London-born Norwegian Kurt Maflin, ranked 91st, and was staring down the barrel of one of the sport's biggest ever upsets.
But he responded with breaks of 133 and 117 to launch him towards a 5-4 victory, completed by three half-centuries in the last two frames.
There were further celebrations for the home fans as Li Hang progressed with a 5-4 win over Graeme Dott.
The youngster came from 47 behind to take the first frame with a break of 81 but a 52 helped Dott win the second.
Li moved 3-1 ahead and, after Dott cut the deficit with the aid of a break of 87, he moved to within one of victory with his second century of the match.
Dott dug in to take the match its full distance, but a break of 71 took Li through to join Ding in the next round.
Shaun Murphy was a 5-3 winner over Joe Perry after a stirring comeback to settle another closely-fought encounter.
Murphy trailed 3-1 but won the fifth with a 71 and pinched the sixth with a 56 after Perry had led courtesy of a 54.
An 89 took Murphy ahead and he came from behind to wrap up the eighth with a decisive break of 34.
In yet another match to go the distance, Marcus Campbell continued his impressive season with a 5-4 win over Mark Allen.
The players were locked at 2-2 at the mid-session interval, after which Campbell opened up a two-frame lead.
Allen levelled with the help of a break of 90 in frame seven but the Scot got over the line in a tense decider.
Mark Davis dumped out world number seven Stephen Maguire 5-3 in the early session.
With the players locked at 3-3, Davis found his best form to edge in front with a break of 73 and then closed the match out with a 137.
In the wildcard round, Robert Milkins hammered Rouzi Maimaiti 5-1 and Northern Ireland's Gerard Greene survived a mid-match rally from Yu Delu to win 5-2.
Greene said: ‘All the Chinese players have got a lot better and when they're in the balls they don't seem to miss a lot.
‘I was 3-0 up and he hit a 50 and a 100 to go to 3-2 so it was a bit of a struggle, but a good result.’
