Just the 15th Crucible 147 in this morning's session ultimately proved in vain as Mark Allen made a second-round exit from the World Snooker Championship at the hands of qualifier Chris Wakelin.
Allen fired his maximum in the 13th frame having failed to pot a single ball in any of the previous three, as Wakelin turned a 6-2 overnight lead into an almost irretrievable 10-2 advantage by the mid-session interval.
The perfect break left the Antrim native £40,000 richer, but it was Wakelin who put himself on the brink of a quarter-final with a 12-4 lead at the end of the session and just one frame from victory.
Mark Allen's 1️⃣4️⃣7️⃣
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With little margin for error, Allen took the first two frames of the evening session. Indeed in the second of those, the 39-year-old threatened to pull off a second maximum, but a tricky black ended his break on 81.
Wakelin, who had never won a match in three previous appearances at the Crucible, was forced to bide his time, but in a jittery 19th frame that saw both players make uncharacteristic misses, the 33-year-old finally brought the contest to a conclusion as Allen's long wait for a maiden world title continues for at least another year.
Allen’s hopes of a bright start this morning evaporated when he missed a simple yellow off its spot in the opening frame of the day to gift his opponent the chance to extend his lead to 7-2.
What followed was a masterclass from Wakelin, whose attacking intent paid rich dividends as he delivered a break of 119 and two subsequent half-centuries, scattered with shots that earned praise from the BBC’s co-commentators, Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis.
Hendry described one of Wakelin’s shots, in which he potted a yellow to the middle despite the cue ball being tight on the bottom cushion, as "one of the best shots I’ve ever seen".
Davis hailed an "astonishing performance" by Wakelin, adding: "There have been some fantastic shots played over the years at the Crucible, but that’s up there in the top 10 for me."
Sensing nothing to lose after the interval, Allen made his intentions plain early in the next frame, targeting a long black and riding his luck on the yellow to wrap up his first 147 at the famous venue.
Allen punched the air after sinking the black and was warmly congratulated by Wakelin. His score will earn a share of the highest break prize with Jackson Page, who hit two maximums in qualifying, and an additional £40,000 for making a 147 at the Crucible.
John Higgins and Xiao Guodong remain locked together at 8-8 at the end of the second session of their second-round match that concludes on Saturday.
Four-time champion Higgins looked set to start pulling away from his opponent after getting two snookers he required to force a re-spotted black when he led 7-6.
But after appearing to have done enough to clinch the frame with a fine cut, Higgins went in-off to hand the frame to Xiao and the last two of a fascinating and hard-fought session were shared.
Three-times world champion Mark Williams will take a 9-7 lead into the final session of his clash with Hossein Vafaei.
After the pair had resumed at 4-4, the Welshman raced into a 7-4 lead, opening up with a break of 122, although Vafaei reduced the deficit to 7-5 at the interval with a visit of 115 and then drew to within one as he edged a scrappy 13th.
However, breaks of 61 and 50 restored Williams' two-frame advantage and he edged a tight safety battle to extend it to 9-6 – only for the Iranian to give himself hope with a clearance of 132, including a doubled final black.
Elsewhere, Zhao Xintong will take 5-3 lead into Saturday’s session of his clash with Chinese compatriot Lei Peifan.
