John Higgins fought back at the Northern Ireland Open at Waterfront Hall in Belfast, trailing from 3-0 to four innings to beat Mark Williams 4-3.
It was Higgins' 40th meeting with Williams, who joined the Tour in 1992 the same year. Despite losing two previous matches against Williams, today's victory gave four-time world champion Higgins a 21-19 lead in the head-to-head record.
The illustrious duo won at least 55 ranking titles, with Higgins winning 31 and Williams winning 24.
In yesterday's evening beijing time, Williams took the lead. The Welshman scored a single shot of 69 and 53 points and built a 3-0 advantage to take the lead in match points.
Williams looked destined to take the victory with a 54-21 lead in the fourth set, but a red ball error allowed Higgins to seize the opportunity to fight back. The Scots saved the inning with a superb clearance of 42 points.
Higgins scored another city with 110 points, and the score rose to 3-2. He then completed the clearance from the green ball to the pink ball, bringing the score to 3-3 and dragging the game into the decider. Higgins took control of the final set and made it to the quarter-finals against David Gilbert.
"I'm happy. I trailed 3-0 and was only one inning away from elimination. Mark would be remorseful. Higgins, 46, said, "I'm happy to be on the pitch and win. Mark has beaten me in the last few games, so it's good to be able to return the color.
"I think when we were younger, there was a stronger smell of gunpowder between the two of us. Now, in my eyes, I just enjoy playing with them and I have a lot of respect for them. We don't know how many times we'll be able to play against each other at the pinnacle of the game. It's great to play against a player like Mark.