China's Si Jiahui is through to the last eight of the Halo World Championship for a second time after battling past world number 45 Ben Woollaston 13-10 at the Crucible Theatre.
Since first qualifying for the final stages in 2023, Si has enjoyed a dazzling record on snooker’s biggest stage.
The 22-year-old reached the semi-finals on debut as a qualifier two years ago. He led Luca Brecel 14-5 and looked set to reach the title match before an epic comeback saw him lose 17-15. Last year, Si defeated three-time Crucible king Mark Williams in the opening round, before bowing out in the last 16.
Next up, Si could face Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals, with the Rocket needing just one more frame to progress this evening. O'Sullivan leads Pang Junxu 12-4.
Woollaston’s campaign comes to an end, but he can reflect proudly on an excellent return to the Theatre of Dreams. The 37-year-old from Leicester was appearing in the final stages for the first time since 2013. His stunning 10-8 victory over Mark Selby in the opening round marked his first Crucible match win.
Heading into this afternoon’s concluding session, Si led 9-7 after clinching a crucial final frame last night.
That advantage was quickly wiped out, as former Welsh Open finalist Woollaston took the opening frame and then fired in a 110 break in the 19th to level at 9-9.
The next two frames were shared to leave the match finely poised at 10-10. Si then surged ahead with contributions of 63 and 126 to move to within a frame of victory at 12-10.
The 23rd frame came down to the brown. Woollaston missed a tricky chance to the green pocket, and Si responded by potting a superb brown to the same corner. Landing perfectly on the blue, he cleared the table to secure the win.
“It was tough, because neither of us played very well. It was exhausting — mainly mentally exhausting. In the end, I relied entirely on my willpower to win," said world number 13 Si.
"I think I wanted to win too badly. I put too much pressure on myself, which made my performance worse. To be fair, my opponent was also playing in the last 16 at the Crucible for the first time, and he wasn’t playing very well either. Overall, both of us didn’t play to a high standard.
"No matter who my next opponent is, I hope I can show my best level. That would make me very happy. If it’s Ronnie, I think I will feel much more relaxed mentally. Losing to him would be very normal — it wouldn’t be upsetting. If my mindset is right, I’ll be able to play more freely and aggressively. I hope I can perform better in the next round.”