Fergal O'Brien is into the last-16 of the British Open after a comeback 4-3 victory over Matthew Stevens at The Centaur in Cheltenham.
The Dubliner burst of the the blocks to lead 2-0 with the help of a break of 60. But Stevens, who last night came from 3-1 down to dump Ken Doherty out of the tournament, found his groove to win three frames in succession and move to the brink of victory.
O'Brien wasn't deterred though, showing nerves of steel to rattle off breaks of 55 and 74 and win the match.
The 51-year-old told RTÉ Sport in April that after a poor season last term it would "take something extraordinary" for him not to retire at the end of this season.
Tonight's victory sees him into the last-16 of a ranking event for the first time since 2021 and he now awaits the winner of the clash between Matthew Selt and Jack Lisowski tomorrow afternoon.
Elsewhere there was disappointment Mark Allen as he was outclassed 4-0 by Kyren Wilson.
The Englishman was in top form as he knocked in breaks of 112 and 121 to inflict a second whitewash of the season for the Antrim man, following his 5-0 defeat to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the European Masters.
John Higgins also crashed out after suffering a 4-1 defeat to Robbie Williams. Higgins fell 3-0 behind before smashing in the first century of the match with a 116 break.
But world number 47 Williams ended all hopes of a comeback with a century of his own to wrap up a comfortable victory.
Four-time world champion Mark Selby survived a scare as he came from two frames down to beat Chinese world number 52 Tian Pengfei 4-2
Mark Williams also came from behind to beat Gary Wilson 4-2 while Hossein Vafaei booked his place in the next round with a win over Yuan Sijun.
Additional reporting: PA
