England’s Tom Ford battled back from 3-0 down to beat Jordan Brown 9-6 and book his place in the final of the International Championship in China.
A high-quality contest in Tianjin saw Ford compile four centuries, while Brown made two tons of his own.
The players were tied 4-4 after the first session of their match but despite again trailing twice world-ranked 20 Ford, 40, emerged the victor.
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhang Anda meet in the second semi-final on Saturday.
World number one O’Sullivan will start as favourite to progress against his 37th-ranked Chinese opponent, with a place in Sunday’s final at stake.
Northern Ireland’s Brown established a welcome three-frame lead over Ford with the aid of breaks of 75, 117 and 58, before runs of 69 and 57 helped his Leicester opponent to restore parity.
The Antrim cueman edged the seventh frame but a century in the next ensured Ford went into the break level.
A run of 134 saw Brown inch in front again, with the next two frames shared before breaks of 133, 101 and 109 saw Ford move into an 8-6 lead.
A 57 in the next proved enough to get him over the line in his ninth ranking event semi-final.
Ford has previously lost two ranking deciders, going down 4-2 to Mark Selby in the final of the Paul Hunter Classic in 2016 and 10-3 to Ali Carter in the German Masters final in February.
The world number 20 beat Mark Selby and European Masters champion Barry Hawkins earlier in the tournament.
Brown, who sits 43rd in the world standings, was taking part in his first ranking event semi-final since the 2021 Welsh Open final, when he went on to cause a major upset by defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-8 in the final.
The Antrim player has been unable to match that form subsequently, failing to advance beyond the last 16 of a ranking event thereafter.
The 36-year-old will take confidence however from having seen off David Gilbert, Kyren Wilson, John Higgins and Stephen Maguire on his way to making the last four this week.
The winner of the tournament will collect a first prize of £175,000.
He has previously lost two ranking deciders, going down 4-2 to Mark Selby in the final of the Paul Hunter Classic in 2016 and 10-3 to Ali Carter in the German Masters final in February.
The world number 20 beat Mark Selby and European Masters champion Barry Hawkins earlier in the tournament.