Stuart Bingham won the last three frames to beat Stuart Carrington 10-9 in the World Snooker Championship qualifiers on Sunday.
The 2015 world champion looked to be in significant trouble when he trailed 7-3 and 9-7 to his fellow Englishman.
But the 47 year-old compiled breaks of 55, 91, and 68 in the last three frames to complete what had looked like an unlikely turnaround.
The last time Bingham failed to appear at the Crucible Theatre was in 2010, the six-time ranking event winner consigned to the preliminary competition after falling down the rankings.
In the final round of the world qualifiers, otherwise known as Judgement Day, Bingham will encounter Louis Heathcote.
The latter defied a ranking difference of more than 60 places to beat Elliot Slessor 10-8 at the English Institute of Sport.
Elsewhere, Zhou Youlong recorded a whopping 10-0 thumping of James Cahill, while his next opponent Jak Jones outplayed Jamie Clarke 10-6.
Former World Championship semi-final Stephen Maguire made a brace of century breaks during his high-scoring 10-7 defeat of Ashley Hugill.
The Scot meets Yuan Sijun on Judgement Day after the Chinese competitor edged Michael White in a close 10-8 battle.
Chris Wakelin and Robbie Williams were the other two players to advance on day six of the qualifiers following respective 10-5 victories over Lukas Kleckers and Anthony Hamilton.
Several other fixtures also reached their halfway points, with Hossein Vafaei leading Marco Fu 6-3 and Jackson Page in front of Graeme Dott by the same margin.
On Monday, the third round will reach its conclusion with the likes of Neil Robertson, Si Jiahui, and Ryan Day entering the fray in Sheffield.
World Snooker Championship qualifiers draw
All matches are the best of 19 frames played across two sessions.
Scorelines in italics indicate the end of the first session.
–
Qualifier 1
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 1 | Jimmy White w/o Martin Gould | Jimmy White 3-10 Liu Hongyu | Liu Hongyu 4-10 Jack Lisowski | |
| Jack Lisowski 10-3 Matthew Stevens | ||||
| 2 | Ryan Thomerson 3-10 Liam Davies | Liam Davies 2-10 Jimmy Robertson | Jimmy Robertson 6-10 Matthew Stevens |
Qualifier 2
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 3 | Ian Burns 10-1 Dean Young | Ian Burns 10-7 Mark Joyce | Ian Burns 7-10 Ricky Walden | |
| Ricky Walden 10-9 Mark Davis | ||||
| 4 | Andy Lee 9-10 Andrew Pagett | Andrew Pagett 2-10 Mark Davis | Mark Davis 10-8 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
Qualifier 3
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 5 | Rory Thor 10-2 Hamza Ilyas | Rory Thor 8-10 David Grace | David Grace 6-10 Dominic Dale | |
| Dominic Dale 10-8 He Guoqiang | ||||
| 6 | Ross Muir 10-9 Cheung Ka Wai | Ross Muir 8-10 He Guoqiang | He Guoqiang 10-5 Anthony McGill |
Qualifier 4
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 7 | Alfie Burden 10-1 Rebecca Kenna | Alfie Burden 10-3 Xu Si | Alfie Burden 5-10 Jamie Jones | |
| Jamie Jones 10-9 Neil Robertson | ||||
| 8 | Ishpreet Singh Chadha 6-10 Gao Yang | Gao Yang 6-10 Zak Surety | Zac Surety 2-10 Neil Robertson |
Qualifier 5
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 9 | Sean O’Sullivan 8-10 Bulscu Revesz | Bulscu Revesz 8-10 James Cahill | James Cahill 0-10 Zhou Yuelong | |
| Zhou Yuelong 4-10 Jak Jones | ||||
| 10 | Andres Petrov 10-1 Ahmed Elsayed | Andres Petrov 7-10 Jamie Clarke | Jamie Clarke 6-10 Jak Jones |
Qualifier 6
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 11 | Adam Duffy 10-5 Mink Nutcharut | Adam Duffy 4-10 Ashley Hugill | Ashley Hugill 7-10 Stephen Maguire | |
| Stephen Maguire 10-6 Yuan Sijun | ||||
| 12 | Andrew Higginson 10-7 Duane Jones | Andrew Higginson 8-10 Michael White | Michael White 8-10 Yuan Sijun |
Qualifier 7
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 13 | Louis Heathcote 10-4 Oliver Sykes | Louis Heathcote 10-7 Oliver Lines | Louis Heathcote 10-8 Elliot Slessor | |
| Louis Heathcote 8-10 Stuart Bingham | ||||
| 14 | Stuart Carrington 10-5 Himanshu Jain | Stuart Carrington 10-9 Liam Highfield | Stuart Carrington 9-10 Stuart Bingham |
Qualifier 8
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 15 | Alexander Ursenbacher 10-0 Iulian Boiko | Alexander Ursenbacher 7-10 Anthony Hamilton | Anthony Hamilton 5-10 Robbie Williams | |
| Robbie Williams 10-9 Chris Wakelin | ||||
| 16 | Allan Taylor 10-6 Vladislav Gradinari | Allan Taylor 9-10 Lukas Kleckers | Lukas Kleckers 5-10 Chris Wakelin |
Qualifier 9
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 17 | Marco Fu 10-1 Baipat Siripaporn | Marco Fu 10-6 Ken Doherty | Marco Fu 4-10 Hossein Vafaei | |
| Hossein Vafaei 10-5 Jiang Jun | ||||
| 18 | Jiang Jun 10-6 Amir Sarkhosh | Jiang Jun 10-8 Fan Zhengyi | Jiang Jun 10-8 Sam Craigie |
Qualifier 10
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 19 | Hammad Miah 2-10 Haydon Pinhey | Haydon Pinhey 3-10 Julien Leclercq | Julien Leclercq 1-10 Joe O’Connor | |
| Joe O’Connor 10-8 Matthew Selt | ||||
| 20 | Daniel Womersley w/o Muhammad Asif | Daniel Womersley 3-10 Aaron Hill | Aaron Hill 4-10 Matthew Selt |
Qualifier 11
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 21 | Ma Hailong 10-1 Victor Sarkis | Ma Hailong 10-7 Martin O’Donnell | Ma Hailong 4-10 Cao Yupeng | |
| Cao Yupeng 8-10 Pang Junxu | ||||
| 22 | Oliver Brown 10-0 Reanne Evans | Oliver Brown 10-8 Dylan Emery | Oliver Brown 7-10 Pang Junxu |
Qualifier 12
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 23 | Fergal O’Brien 8-10 Mostafa Dorgham | Mostafa Dorgham 5-10 Graeme Dott | Graeme Dott 5-10 Jackson Page | |
| Jackson Page 10-9 Noppon Saengkham | ||||
| 24 | Long Zehuang 10-1 Sydney Wilson | Long Zehuang 2-10 Andy Hicks | Andy Hicks 5-10 Noppon Saengkham |
Qualifier 13
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 25 | Rod Lawler 10-7 Gong Chenzhi | Rod Lawler 9-10 Ben Mertens | Ben Mertens 9-10 Si Jiahui | |
| Si Jiahui 10-4 Wu Yize | ||||
| 26 | Stan Moody 6-10 Mohamed Shehab | Mohamed Shebab 8-10 Tian Pengfei | Tian Pengfei 8-10 Wu Yize |
Qualifier 14
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 27 | Xing Zihao 10-6 Michael Holt | Xing Zihao 5-10 Daniel Wells | Daniel Wells 8-10 Lyu Haotian | |
| Lyu Haotian 10-7 Jenson Kendrick | ||||
| 28 | Jenson Kendrick 10-7 Bai Yulu | Jenson Kendrick 10-8 Ben Woollaston | Jenson Kendrick 10-5 Jordan Brown |
Qualifier 15
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 29 | Liam Pullen 10-3 Anton Kazakov | Liam Pullen 8-10 Sanderson Lam | Sanderson Lam 2-10 Xiao Guodong | |
| Xiao Guodong 6-10 David Gilbert | ||||
| 30 | Peng Yisong 10-5 Manasawin Phetmalaikul | Peng Yisong 9-10 David Lilley | David Lilley 4-10 David Gilbert |
Qualifier 16
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 31 | Mohamed Ibrabim 6-10 Peter Lines | Peter Lines 6-10 Scott Donaldson | Scott Donaldson 10-6 Joe Perry | |
| Scott Donaldson 9-10 Ryan Day | ||||
| 32 | Ashley Carty 10-4 Liam Graham | Ashley Carty 6-10 John Astley | John Astley 6-10 Ryan Day |
Featured photo credit: WST
We’ve seen three 10-0 whitewashes so far.
Lukas Kleckers and James Cahill are both now relegated.
Chris Wakelin has become the 81st player to compile 100 career centuries.
Heathcote the day’s standout performer. Slessor has had a progressive season so I tipped him to reach the Crucible given Bingham’s decline.
Yes Heathcote was brilliant in the first session, but then a bit wobbly in the evening. Nevertheless he held on well to come through. It’s hard to predict how he will play on Judgement Day, but he can afford to be optimistic.