Neil Robertson stood up to everything Mark Williams threw at him - including a superb 147 maximum break - to reach the English Open semi-finals.
Defending champion Robertson won the match of the tournament 5-3 at the Brentwood Centre in Essex to set up a clash on Saturday with Mark Selby.
The Australian made three centuries and other breaks of 97 and 73 himself - but the highlight was Williams’ feat that made him the oldest player at 47 years and 270 days to make a 147.
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Robertson now takes on Selby looking to extend a winning run against the Leicester player going back seven matches.
World No4 Robertson, 40, said: “It was a great match to be a part of - Mark had the 147, five centuries in total and other big breaks. Not bad for eight frames.
“It was a brilliant 147 from Mark, he knocked that in for fun at 3-0 down but that’s the way he always is. It was awesome, almost perfect.
“I think that makes Mark the oldest player to make a max and I hope I am still making then into my late 40s. There is no reason that someone can’t make one at 50.
“Though it is most likely it will be Mark, John Higgins or Ronnie O’Sullivan that does it, it was not a sport that is very restricted by age.
“I can hardly fault my own performance, maybe just let Mark in too easily once off the break.
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“With the very good season I had last time this is the first of four title defences. You want to give a good account of yourself when you defend.
“I am pleased with my season despite not winning a title yet. This is a fourth semi-final of the season and my usual career strikes rate means I might be due a win.”
Williams said: “It was a really good match and I didn’t do too much wrong. You leave him a red and he makes a century.
“Sometimes you just have to take your hat off. He’s the best player in the world, he is a scoring machine and if he play like that there is only Ronnie O’Sullivan that can compete with him.
“I was 3-0 down when I got the maximum. I saw it was on from about 24 and I just really needed to make something happen because he was battering me.
“I don’t go for 147s as much as many, it doesn’t matter how many I get in my career. That is my third, I got £161,000 for the first one and this will be £5,000 at most.
“If there was a big prize these days I am sure I would go for them more often.”
Selby found his best form when it mattered against Essex home favourite Ali Carter to win 5-3 after trailing 3-2 and has reached a first ranking semi-final for a year.
The four-time world champion, who also wants to keep a record of winning at least one title a year for 12 years, said: “I haven’t played too bad this year, but I have just got badly punished by opponents.
“I have lost about the last 450 matches against Neil but I won’t worry about that too much."
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