Mark Allen's hopes of a third successive title at the Northern Ireland Open are over after he was beaten by Estonia's Andres Petrov just before 2am at the Waterfront Hall.
In a match containing just one half century break – exactly 50 from Petrov in the second frame – Allen came back from 3-1 down to force a decider, but the Estonian edged over the finishing line.
The defeat brought a 15-match unbeaten run at the venue to an end as Allen missed the final blue, when it looked like he was going to come from behind to sneak the decider, and Petrov potted the remaining three balls.
Aaron Hill is into the last 32 after beating Fan Zhengyi 4-1 at the Waterfront Hall on Monday afternoon.
Hill managed his best result on the pro tour recently as he reached the quarter-final at the Wuhan Open ranking event and he brought that form home in Belfast.
Frames three and four were the winning and losing of the match as the Cork man showed nerves of steel to nick both. First, the third, a scrappy one which Hill claimed by potting the pink, followed by a little fist pump.
Fan hadn't missed a ball at that stage but suddenly found himself behind in the match for the second time.
Then, in the fourth, the world number 31 blinked, missing the frame ball on a break of 60. Hill needed a couple of visits to seal the frame, rolling the final black in alongside the side cushion.
The fifth frame would prove to be the last as Hill finished off the match with a composed break of 73.
"I played really well, it was a very clinical performance from me," he told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
"They're the frames that will break you," he said of the critical third and fourth ones," they'll win or lose you a match.
"The two of them were on my side and to get 3-1 was huge because even though I played well, he did the same. I could have been 3-1 down just as easy so it was massive.
"To win the frame to go 2-1 must have hurt him but the next one double hurt him. I had to keep him down, and finish off the match, and I did - I made a nice one visit [in the last frame]."
Next up for the 21-year-old is a meeting with either Wales' Dylan Emery.
Elsewhere this afternoon local Jordan Brown - a practice partner of Hill - secured the most impressive victory of his career since winning the Welsh Open in February 2021 as he saw off 2010 world champion Neil Robertson.
Brown's match was on at the same time as Hill's and the Antrim man had the gaze of the majority in the crowd, and he used that energy to keep the Australian world number six down in a 4-1 victory.
The Antrim Ferrari raced into a 3-0 lead, including a 94 in the opener. Robertson kept the match alive with a superb 125 in the next, but Brown was able to finish the match in the next with a break of 51.
Shaun Murphy held his nerve to pot the final black and edge out Marco Fu 4-3, after the Hong Kong man had recovered from 3-1 down to force the decider.
Jack Lisowski delivered a break of 138 as he sunk Jackson Page 4-1, while 17-year-old Stan Moody reached the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time after his 4-1 win over veteran Rod Lawler.
