John Higgins punished an unforgivable series of mistakes by Ronnie O'Sullivan as he came out on top in their Betfred.com World Championship quarter-final.
The Scot had trailed 8-5 during the afternoon session but won eight of the next 10 frames to tie up a 13-10 victory.
In a high proportion of those frames, O'Sullivan led, missed reasonably easy balls and was made to pay by the opponent he regards as the most complete player in the sport.
Certainly Higgins proved himself a better finisher tonight than his fellow three-time former Crucible champion, sealing his victory with a fine break of 79 which began with a fluke.
O'Sullivan began the day by surging from 4-4 to his three-frame lead, making breaks of 82, 77 and 47 in the process.
He looked in charge but wasted early openings in the 14th and 15th frames to let Higgins off the hook as the Scot took both and added the next with an 80 break to draw level.
Higgins came into the evening session with momentum on his side and was served up more early gifts.
O'Sullivan twice presented Higgins with scoring chances which he took to seize a commanding lead. That left O'Sullivan requiring two snookers, which he got.
O'Sullivan put Higgins back in after the second of those after sportingly disputing the award of a free ball, but was left to regret it when Higgins fired in a difficult long final red, effectively clinching the frame.
It seemed an irrational move, but O'Sullivan put it behind him and a break of 116 drew him level at 9-9.
The champion of 2001, 2004 and 2008 threatened to come from 66-0 behind to win the next frame, but after doing the initial hard work of clearing the final six reds, he played a careless safety shot which left Higgins a simple yellow.
O'Sullivan again squandered a frame-winning opportunity to lose the next, missing a simple red, and at 11-9 behind he went to the interval with plenty to consider.
Something changed for O'Sullivan when he began seeing sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters earlier this month, after changing his mind about withdrawing from the championship and seeking a way to regain his enthusiasm.
And it seemed as though something had changed during the interval too for the world number 10 when he began brightly, only to miss another red while stretching. Higgins rolled in a break of 73 and was one frame from victory.
A 94 from O'Sullivan delayed the denouement, but when Higgins fluked a red in the middle at the start of the next frame and found himself with an easy black, O'Sullivan must have known the game was up.
It soon was, and Higgins goes on to face Mark Williams in a semi-final which gets under way tomorrow evening.
