Nigel Bond remains in position to cause one of the biggest shocks in snooker history, having reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship.
The 54-year-old began the first Triple Crown event of the season as a 2000/1 rank outsider, having lost at the first-round stage in each of his previous four ranking starts this season.
On Monday, he defied in-play odds of 50/1 to turn a 3-1 deficit into a shock 6-3 victory over world number one Judd Trump, before producing a Houdini act to beat Gary Wilson 6-5 having trailed 5-2.
Now, Bond goes into a quarter-final with Mark Allen, the new tournament favourite after Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby followed Trump and Neil Robertson in exiting the tournament.
Sky Bet's outright odds
2/1 Mark Allen
3/1 Ding Junhui, John Higgins
8/1 Stephen Maguire
11/1 Yan Bingtao
14/1 Liang Wenbo
16/1 Matthew Stevens
50/1 Nigel Bond
Bond actually beat Allen when last they met, but that was at the Snooker Shootout over just one frame - the Northern Irishman had previously won all of their four regulation meetings.
Allen is 1/10 to finally end Bond's remarkable run, which started with a final-frame defeat of Luca Brecel before two stunning comebacks, Friday's against Wilson arguably more so than Monday's against Trump.
In the same half of the draw, two of the sport's great nearly-men collide as Stephen Maguire takes on Matthew Stevens, who overcame Selby in a match which went beyond midnight on Thursday.
Maguire shades favouritism as he looks for a sixth victory in succession over the Welshman, who hasn't made a ranking final in almost seven years.
At the top of the draw, a Chinese semi-finalist is guaranteed as Ding Junhui takes on Liang Wenbo.
Ding found form to upset the odds and beat O'Sullivan on Friday, exuding the cue-ball control which for so long promised to make him a world champion, and he's challenging John Higgins for second-favouritism in the outright market.
Higgins will take on impressive youngster Yan Bingtao, another shock winner as he thrashed Robertson 6-1 at the last-16 stage.
UK Championship: Daily schedule
Friday December 6
Afternoon session (1300 GMT)
TV coverage: BBC and Eurosport
- Ding Junhui v Liang Wenbo
- John Higgins v Yan Bingtao
Evening session (1900 GMT)
TV coverage: BBC and Eurosport
- Stephen Maguire v Matthew Stevens
- Mark Allen v Nigel Bond
