Ken Doherty's bid to reach the World Snooker Championship came up short as he was beaten 10-6 by Pang Junxu in a third round qualifier.
The Dubliner has not played at the Crucible since 2014, but victories over Reanne Evans and Hammad Miah had him within touching distance.
Doherty rushed into a 4-0 lead over Pang but crucially missed a pink off the spot to go 5-0 up.
It was a miss that seemed to unsettle the 53-year-old, and Pang would claw his way back into the match to trail 5-4 at the midway point.
In the evening session, Pang levelled the match up at 6-6 before a couple of tense and scrappy frames went the way of the young Chinese player.
With his opponent enjoying a fortunate run of the balls on several occasions, the 1997 world champion Doherty cut a frustrated figure in his chair before Pang finished the match off with a break of 97.
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