What at first appeared to be a pull in the carpet fabric yesterday, which made Joe Swail's run in the World Championship look dangerously like unravelling, turned into a hallmark and inspiring evening revival in which the 30-year-old grabbed five out of the last six frames against Matthew Stevens of Wales to trail only 13-11.
Having gone into yesterday's morning session at 4-4, Stevens increased his lead to a formidable 10-6. But he finished last evening's session with his foot not nearly as firmly placed in this year's final as it had seemed earlier in the day.
Pessimists in the Irish camp had been simply wondering when Stevens was going to shift into a higher gear, and in claiming six out of eight morning frames the ninth seed indicated that he was coming close to doing just that.
The 22-year-old had the typical bearing of a young, portly accountant, and his checks, balances and adjustments around the table were an elegant exposition of snooker economics and the business house ethic: get in, get lots and leave nothing for anyone else.
Where Swail was brave and whole-hearted, there was little he could do to prevent the morning onslaught.
The outsider briefly took the early lead, initially scrambling before a 45 break closed the frame for an encouraging beginning. But Stevens was instinctive and merciless in his response.
Knocking in a game-winning break of 78, only to follow it with breaks of 110, 80 and 94, he moved from 4-5 down to 10-5 ahead, and the session closed with the Belfast player four frames behind.
Fergal O'Brien had said about Mark Williams and other top players that they never look back when they get ahead in a match. They smell the vulnerability and doggedly take the match to a stage from which there is no return.
"The top four players are very good with a lead," said O'Brien. "Other players look over their shoulder but they just keep on going."
But Swail made a nonsense of that observation. Initially, he fell from 10-6 to a frightening 12-6 before his remarkable resilience began to show, taking three successive frames for 12-9 and causing serious ripples of concern in the Welsh camp.
Had a red not rolled in off a black pot he would have had a fourth, but instead let Stevens snatch one back for 13-9. But Swail, clearly confident from both long and short range, added another for 13-10, before a supremely encouraging finish.
A cat fight in the last that appeared to sway towards Stevens was once again salvaged for a critical finish which took Swail to within two frames of the leader.
While Stevens holds the advantage, Swail's confidence should be soaring. With nothing to lose, he has brought the match to within reach, a prospect the 28th seed would never have imagined two weeks ago.
Stevens, should he continue to hold the match, could become the first Welsh player since Terry Griffith in 1979 to win at the Crucible. That is unless Mark Williams can also make his way past Scotland's John Higgins, in which case, it would be an all-Welsh final.
That other semi-final between the second and third seeds is poised at 8-8 after an incredibly tight second session during which no more than two frames ever separated the players.
Oddly, it was not a match of multiple centuries as the two potters scrapped. Higgins highest break was 73 and Williams, who was finding his accuracy from long range but didn't manage to stay on the table as dominantly as he has been able to do thus far, worked a 78.
