Kyren Wilson withstood a strong comeback from Martin Gould to win 13-9 and book his place in the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the fifth time.
The 28-year-old, who was handed a first-round bye following the withdrawal of Anthony Hamilton, had resumed with an 11-5 lead and requiring two more frames to progress.
But Gould reeled off the first three frames of the morning and should have had a fourth until a calamitous error left Wilson with a free ball and the chance to clear from two snookers down to move within one frame of victory.
Gould reduced the deficit again with a break of 73 and was in first in the next but gave Wilson a chance which he exploited to finally book a last-eight clash against Judd Trump.
Reflecting on his delayed entry to the tournament, Wilson admitted: "100 per cent I would rather have played – I was worried whether I would have the match sharpness and I was also the last to experience the different atmosphere.
"But it's obvious the longevity of the tournament can take it out on a lot of players. I had a week off that other players won't have had, and I'll be playing every day. I prefer that because I feel like I build and get stronger once my timing is there."
Neil Robertson pulled away from Barry Hawkins to keep alive his hopes of winning a second world crown.
The Australian, who will play Mark Selby in the quarter-finals, resumed at 8-8 and pounced on some uncharacteristic errors from Hawkins to take the first three frames of the session.
Hawkins reduced the deficit with a superb break of 104 but Robertson restored his lead with a 79 despite the black being out of service, then seized a second chance in the next frame to complete a 13-9 win.
Robertson said: "I'm a completely different player to when I won in 2010 – the whole game has moved on and last-16 matches are always going to be really tough here.
"I thought the match was played to a good standard despite the conditions with the humidity and the air conditioning.
"You need to learn to adjust to the conditions. Last year I didn't handle it well, but this year I've done really well so that was my focus coming in and my shot selection has been really solid."