Mark Allen held off typically stern resistance from Gary Wilson to reach the last four of the Players Championship, winning 6-4 on Thursday afternoon.
Wilson was bidding to continue his golden run having won the Scottish Open just before Christmas and the Welsh Open only last week, but he struggled for the same level of sharpness here and was left to rue a crucial miss on the final red in frame eight which would've drawn him level.
Having worked his way back into what was another lengthy frame in a gruelling encounter, Wilson had the colours at his mercy if able to negotiate the final red which was chained to the bottom cushion.
However, the 38-year-old flashed his cue in anger when leaving the red hanging over the pocket, and Allen duly did the rest as he began to take control.
Up until that point, there had been very little between the pair, Allen doing the bulk of the scoring with breaks of 84, 63, 75 and 54, but Wilson hanging tough throughout, and a run of 76 from the latter put the match all square at 3-3.
Allen was to finish the stronger, though, dominating the next frame and then claiming the following one after Wilson's costly miss, putting himself on the cusp of victory.
One final twist saw Wilson win frame nine on the final black after Allen missed what was essentially match ball, but the Northern Irishman gathered himself well and booked his place in the semi-finals with a break of 69 soon after.
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