Belfast cue-man Joe Swail booked his place at next month's World Championship at the Crucible after defeating Brian Morgan 10-3 in the final qualifying round.
Swail, who reached the semi-final in 2000 and 2001, compiled breaks of 85, 104, 60, 58, 53 and 57 to secure his place at Sheffield for the fifth season in a row.
The Northern Ireland number one has struggled for the last two years and headed home from the European Open in Malta last week in the pits of despair after another first round exit.
But a coaching session with snooker guru Del Hill, who was Ronnie O'Sullivan's mentor when he won the title three years ago, helped restore some much-needed confidence.
"I don't normally believe in coaching but I was desperate and I needed to get myself sorted out," said Swail. "Del pointed out a couple of things that were wrong with my technique. It only needed a slight alteration but it made a huge difference."
Swail racked up 383 points without reply in moving from 2-2 with Morgan to lead 6-2 and carried an 7-2 advantage into the final session. The 33-year-old needed just 46 minutes on the resumption to reach the Crucible for the eighth time.
Robert Milkins, the world number 21 from Gloucester, raced through to the final stages for a third successive year with a 10-1 defeat of Rory McLeod.
"The first session could have been a lot closer but Rory struggled," he said. "I love the Crucible. There's no place like it so I'm delighted to qualify again."
Nigel Bond, the Crucible runner-up in 1995, was denied a return to Sheffield by Preston's Ian McCulloch. Dominic Dale, a quarter-finalist four years ago, recovered from 7-3 down to beat Leo Fernandez 10-8.
Andy Hicks, a semi-finalist in 1995, beat Welshman Anthony Davies 10-8 to clinch a Crucible place for the first time in three years.
Thai number one James Wattana, twice a semi-finalist, booked his 12th appearance at the Crucible by defeating Stoke's Dave Harold 10-8.