Matthew Stevens rolled back the years with a brilliant display to rout Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 at the English Open.
As ever, all eyes were on O'Sullivan following his swift defeat of Ryan Day on Wednesday but he had no answers to a resurgent Stevens who compiled four breaks of over 50 before closing out the match with a fabulous century.
The 2003 UK Championship winner will now face Jak Jones on Thursday evening for a place in the quarter-finals as he bids to claim what would be only the second ranking-title success of a career that has always felt somewhat unfulfilled, despite two World Championship final appearances.
For his part, O'Sullivan didn't do a great deal wrong as Stevens quickly found his stride with an early run of 58 that settled his nerves and preceded an even better break of 73 in frame two that confirmed his game to be in excellent working order.
O'Sullivan hit straight back when dominating the third frame and he looked well-set to level the scores in frame four until breaking down and handing Stevens the chance to take complete control of the match.
Stevens needed no second invitation, calmly putting together a break of 51 before jumping on a poor safety from O'Sullivan to add a further hand of 54 and put himself within a frame of victory.
That victory came soon after, Stevens once again showcasing his scoring prowess by finishing in style as he rarely slipped out of position in a wonderful match-sealing 116 that ended O'Sullivan's own title hopes with the type of display we have become accustomed to seeing The Rocket himself produce.
Trump survives another scare
Earlier in the day, world number one Judd Trump survived yet another huge scare as he came from 3-1 behind to beat Michael Holt.
Trump performed a similar Houdini act in his first two matches this week but Holt will surely be kicking himself having squandered a couple of really good chances to put the match to bed.
In the end, Trump rallied with breaks of 77 and 70 before dictating terms in a deciding frame in which Holt again had opportunities to get over the line.
Elsewhere, Mark Selby produced a similarly stubborn fightback to see off Liang Wenbo while Barry Hawkins and Neil Robertson also progressed.
