Barry Hawkins battled back to beat Mark Allen 6-5 and secure his place in the final of the UK Championship.
The five-hour marathon semi-final went to a deciding frame, Hawkins completing his recovery from 4-2 and 5-4 down.
Hawkins will meet Judd Trump in Sunday’s final after he saw off world champion Kyren Wilson 6-2 earlier int he day.
HAWKINS WINS THE MIDNIGHT MARATHON! 💥
— WST (@WeAreWST) December 1, 2024
In a tense semi-final, the Hawk prevails in the decider to reach his first ever UK Championship final!#VPUKChampionship | @Victorianplumb pic.twitter.com/L8LzgHD32A
Hawkins, who came through qualifying and beat reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan on his way to the last four, took the opening frame against world number three Allen.
Allen hit back to win four of the next five frames, only for breaks of 57 and 84 to draw Hawkins level.
The ninth frame saw Allen edge ahead again, but Hawkins levelled with the only century break of the match and clinched victory just before 1am.
Hawkins called the multi-hour showdown “gruelling”.
“To come through one of those games, I’m over the moon. It wasn’t pretty to watch. I had one good frame to level at 5-5. I can’t remember many other frames that were any good. It was just a battle,” he said.
“I stuck in there. I just kept trying, that is all you can do. I just tried not to beat myself up. When you are scoring bad and missing balls it becomes really hard.
“You never know what can happen, I’ve fell over the line tonight and I’m pleased I managed to dig in.”
While Trump produced nothing like the form that saw him sweep aside Zhang Anda in the last eight, it proved more than enough to beat Wilson and line him up for another shot at the prestigious trophy he last lifted back in 2011.
Asked if his recent high-profile losses had played on his mind, Trump told BBC Sport: “You can’t be going in thinking you’ve lost the last two times, because you’ve got no hope of winning.
“It was a bit of a sticky start and I was thinking, ‘here I go again’. I think we both thought each other was there for the taking so I just tried to play my own game and keep it tight.”
Trump insisted afterwards that criticism of his performance in ‘triple crown’ events – of which he has now reached nine finals but won just four – is unfair.
“I feel like my record in the triple crowns is actually pretty good,” insisted Trump.
“I’ve reached loads of finals and semi-finals, but the difference between winning and losing in a final is that you get forgotten about. That final game is so important, so it’s all about getting over the line.”
