Jimmy White reached the last 32 of the Scottish Open with a dramatic late-night victory over Jimmy Robertson in Edinburgh.
The clock had actually ticked past midnight and into the wee hours of Wednesday morning by the time the Whirlwind blew into the next round.
After his heroics of last season, when he reached the venue stages of the UK Championship and the last 16 of the German Masters, this term has generally been a struggle.
Indeed, White had failed to win a single match in the 2023/24 campaign until his 4-3 triumph over Duane Jones in the Scottish Open qualifiers.
There were plenty of times during his tie with Robertson when it looked unlikely that he was going to add to that meagre tally.
But a clash of low quality was ultimately decided after a tense exchange in the deciding frame.
Robertson threw away a number of golden opportunities to clinch it, eventually allowing White in to clear the colours.
The 61 year-old, whose maiden professional title was at the Scottish Masters all the way back in 1981 before his opponent was even born, will face either Jamie Jones or Dominic Dale next.
Elsewhere, Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski were added to the growing casualty list of seeded players in the tournament.
Lisowski, a runner-up four years ago, was downed 4-1 by Aaron Hill, while Trump’s 15-match unbeaten streak in the Home Nations series was ended by Zhang Anda.
Although now a member of the top 16 on the official world rankings list, Zhang was actually still ranked outside the top 32 when the draw for the Scottish Open was initially made, hence his early pairing with Trump this week.
The Chinese competitor was denied English Open glory by Trump in October but gained a modicum of revenge here – compiling breaks of 114, 82, 81, and 71 in the process.
Former champions Mark Selby and Luca Brecel survived for another day, however, courtesy of respective deciding-frame defeats of Matthew Stevens and James Cahill.
Home favourite John Higgins, a two-time runner-up since 2016, also progressed thanks to a 4-1 success against He Guoqiang.
Ding Junhui and Ali Carter are still in the running for the £80,000 top prize, too.
Among the others to make it through to the last 32 on day two at the Meadowbank Sports Centre were Tom Ford, Ricky Walden, and Noppon Saengkham.
Rookie Liam Graham took advantage of the bye he received from Ronnie O’Sullivan’s withdrawal by ousting Ben Mertens.
There were routine victories for Chinese trio Lyu Haotian, Pang Junxu, and Liu Hongyu, while Martin O’Donnell and Ashley Carty also advanced.
The round of 64 concludes on Wednesday.
Scottish Open draw
Round of 128 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-3 Elliott Slessor
Xing Zihao 4-3 Fergal O’Brien
Joe O’Connor 4-0 Andy Lee
Scott Donaldson 4-3 Ashley Hugill
Hossein Vafaei 3-4 Daniel Wells
Rory Thor 4-1 Graeme Dott
Ryan Day 4-2 Jiang Jun
Ashley Carty 4-2 Andres Petrov
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Ma Hailong
Chris Wakelin 4-2 Mark Joyce
Yuan Sijun 4-0 Muhammad Asif
Mark Williams 3-4 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams 4-1 Rod Lawler
David Gilbert 4-3 Jak Jones
Jordan Brown 4-2 Adam Duffy
Kyren Wilson 4-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Mark Allen 2-4 Jamie Jones
Dominic Dale 4-1 Ross Muir
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Amaan Iqbal
Jimmy White 4-3 Duane Jones
Robert Milkins 0-4 Mark Davis
Andrew Higginson 4-3 Allan Taylor
Zhou Yuelong 4-0 Anthony Hamilton
Martin Gould 4-2 Reanne Evans
Manasawain Phetmalaikuk 4-2 Ben Woollaston
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Michael White
Aaron Hill 4-1 Ken Doherty
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Julien Leclercq 4-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Si Jiahui 4-3 Tian Pengfei
Zhang Anda 4-2 Andy Hicks
Judd Trump 4-0 Sydney Wilson
Liam Graham w/o Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ben Mertens 4-0 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Sanderson Lam 4-3 Fan Zhengyi
Cao Yupeng 4-2 David Lilley
Barry Hawkins 3-4 Pang Junxu
Xu Si 4-0 Mink Nutcharut
Anthony McGill 4-0 Ryan Thomerson
Oliver Lines 4-0 John Astley
Lukas Kleckers 4-1 Stuart Carrington
Noppon Saengkham 4-0 Rebecca Kenna
Jack Borwick 1-4 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Ali Carter 4-3 Long Zehuang
Alfie Burden 4-1 Ian Burns
Matthew Selt 4-1 Dylan Emery
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Victory Sarkis
Mark Selby 4-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Shaun Murphy 1-4 Liu Hongyu
Zak Surety 4-1 Liam Pullen
Lyu Haotian 4-2 Joe Perry
Jackson Page 4-1 Himanshu Jain
John Higgins 4-0 Oliver Brown
He Guoqiang 4-0 Peng Yisong
Ricky Walden 4-3 Hammad Miah
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-0 Wu Yize
Liam Highfield 4-0 Dean Young
Tom Ford 4-1 Louis Heathcote
Jenson Kendrick 4-2 Anton Kazakov
Ding Junhui 4-0 David Grace
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Andrew Pagett
Jamie Clarke 4-2 Xiao Guodong
James Cahill 4-3 Stan Moody
Luca Brecel 4-0 Iulian Boiko
Round of 64 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-3 Xing Zihao
Joe O’Connor 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Daniel Wells 3-4 Rory Thor
Ryan Day 3-4 Ashley Carty
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 2-4 Chris Wakelin
Yuan Sijun 0-4 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams 3-4 David Gilbert
Jordan Brown 0-4 Kyren Wilson
Jamie Jones 3-4 Dominic Dale
Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Jimmy White
Mark Davis 1-4 Andrew Higginson
Zhou Yuelong w/o Martin Gould
Manasawin Phetmalaikul 0-4 Stuart Bingham
Aaron Hill 4-1 Jack Lisowski
Julien Leclercq 2-4 Si Jiahui
Zhang Anda 4-2 Judd Trump
Liam Graham 4-2 Ben Mertens
Sanderson Lam 4-1 Cao Yupeng
Pang Junxu 4-1 Xu Si
Anthony McGill 4-2 Oliver Lines
Lukas Kleckers 1-4 Noppon Saengkham
Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3-4 Ali Carter
Alfie Burden 1-4 Matthew Selt
Matthew Stevens 3-4 Mark Selby
Liu Hongyu 4-0 Zak Surety
Lyu Haotian 4-0 Jackson Page
John Higgins 4-1 He Guoqiang
Ricky Walden 4-3 Alexander Ursenbacher
Liam Highfield 2-4 Tom Ford
Jenson Kendrick 1-4 Ding Junhui
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Jamie Clarke
James Cahill 3-4 Luca Brecel
Round of 32 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-3 Joe O’Connor
Rory Thor 4-3 Ashley Carty
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Sam Craigie
David Gilbert 3-4 Kyren Wilson
Dominic Dale 4-1 Jimmy White
Andrew Higginson 2-4 Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Aaron Hill
Si Jiahui 2-4 Zhang Anda
Liam Graham 3-4 Sanderson Lam
Pang Junxu 2-4 Anthony McGill
Noppon Saengkham 4-2 Ali Carter
Matthew Selt 4-3 Mark Selby
Liu Hongyu 2-4 Lyu Haotian
John Higgins 4-3 Ricky Walden
Tom Ford 3-4 Ding Junhui
Martin O’Donnell 4-2 Luca Brecel
Round of 16 (bo7)
Gary Wilson 4-1 Rory Thor
Chris Wakelin 4-2 Kyren Wilson
Dominic Dale 0-4 Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Zhang Anda
Sanderson Lam 4-1 Anthony McGill
Noppon Saengkham 4-3 Matthew Selt
Lyu Haotian 2-4 John Higgins
Tom Ford 4-2 Martin O’Donnell
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Gary Wilson 5-0 Chris Wakelin
Zhou Yuelong 5-4 Stuart Bingham
Sanderson Lam 3-5 Noppon Saengkham
John Higgins 5-3 Tom Ford
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Gary Wilson 6-5 Zhou Yuelong
Noppon Saengkham 6-3 John Higgins
Final (bo17)
Gary Wilson 9-5 Noppon Saengkham
Featured photo credit: WST
Next up for the 2004 winner is Dominic Dale. The head-to-head is 5-5, excluding a seniors meeting. White beat him 6-1 in the UK Championship last year. He also thrashed him 10-2 at the 2002 World Championship, in a match interrupted by a streaker. Dale’s best win was a 6-2 triumph in the semi-finals of the 1997 Grand Prix, before he defeated John Higgins in the final to win a first ranking title.