After making a flying start, Neil Robertson was made to huff and puff before blowing Pang Junxu away in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship.
The Australian snooker kingpin raced out to a 5-1 lead on Friday in York and was probably thinking of his next hurdle in the last four when he suddenly found himself in the fight of his life.
The Chinese star won the next three frames to take the match to 5-4 and threaten one of the greatest comebacks ever.
Robertson, however, held his nerve to take the frame and set up a semi-final with defending champion Judd Trump.
The Englishman eased into the last four with a 6-2 victory over three-time winner Ding Junhui.
Trump recovered from a 2-0 deficit to rattle off six frames in a row and reach a third successive UK semi-final at York.
It will be a repeat of the 2020 final when Robertson defeated Trump 10-9.
The other semi-final will be contested between Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby.
Murphy overcame Zhang Anda 6-3 while Selby saw off Barry Hawkins 6-2.
with PA
