Snooker:Qualifier Mark Selby held his nerve to win the last three frames and overcome Shaun Murphy to reach his first 888.com World Championship final.
The Leicester potter recovered from 16-14 down to topple the 2005 world champion and set up a best-of-35 frame meeting with John Higgins - the player he beat 10-4 in the first round of last season's championships.
The 23-year-old's 17-16 success means he becomes only the third qualifier to make the final after Terry Griffiths in 1979 and Murphy himself two years ago.
Selby has shown tremendous resilience throughout the tournament and already assured himself of a place in the top 16 for the 2007-2008 campaign.
His previous best achievement was losing the 2003 Scottish Open to David Gray.
But participating in the final stages of the game's most prestigious tournament would have been the wildest dreams of Selby when he tackled Ricky Walden in the final qualifying round at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield in March.
Murphy had shown himself to be full of determination when recovering from 12-7 down to defeat Matthew Stevens in the quarter-finals but this time he played the reverse role in being on the wrong end of a stirring comeback.
The bonus for Higgins is that Murphy's exit means he is confirmed as the world number one for the 2007-2008 campaign - the first time in six years - in place of Stephen Hendry.
The first two frames of the evening session saw Murphy and Selby both signal their positive intentions by chalking up impressive centuries.
Murphy's long red into the right black pocket set him on the way to a 101 break but Selby was not to be outshone and responded with 104 in the next.
A run of 41 to the final red in frame 27 was enough to edge Murphy ahead again at 14-13. But Selby showed he is made of stern stuff and a 71 break brought him back on level terms by the interval.
The high standard continued when the players returned to the table as Murphy made a superb 132 clearance and he moved to within one frame of the finishing line when triumphing in a topsy turvy 30th frame.
He led 71-0 to leave Selby needing a snooker but the Leicester potter fought back and had the frame in his own hands only to miss the final blue down the rail into the green pocket and let Murphy back in.
Selby showed he is not a quitter and a 68 in the next left Murphy needing snookers and reduced the gap to 16-15. Then a last frame shoot-out was set up when Selby cut the penultimate red into the middle bag and cleared to the pink.
It was Selby who made the decisive break of 64 to send the packed audience into raptures before he received the handshake from Murphy.
The pair had also been inseparable in the morning session when they shared the eight frames after starting the day at 12-12.
Higgins had brought an end to fellow Scot Stephen Maguire's hopes of a first world final appearance as he also produced a memorable comeback to triumph 17-15.
Maguire went into the final session leading 14-10 and needing to capture only three of the remaining nine frames after dominating the third session on Friday evening.
But Higgins, the 1998 champion, refused to buckle in a revival similar to the one shown by Murphy in defeating Matthew Stevens 13-12 in the quarter-finals after trailing 12-7.
Maguire failed to reach his previous heights in the tournament while Higgins was close to the top of his game in clinching a place in his third world final.
Higgins won seven of the eight frames and also achieved the distinction of registering the 1000th century at the Crucible in frame 29.
Maguire will be devastated by the outcome but at least can take consolation from producing some of his best snooker in the past fortnight since bursting onto the scene in 2004.