Snooker:Ding Junhui and Stephen Maguire are both looking to improve for their semi-final clash after coming through testing encounters at the UK Championship in Telford.
World number two Maguire let his concentration slip in his last-eight match against qualifier Peter Lines, being pegged back from 7-2 to 7-5 before a century put him on the way to victory.
Maguire, who is through to the last four for the third consecutive year, said: "I had to give him the respect he was due because he'd had some good wins to get to the quarter-finals.
"I thought I was getting better this week but I struggled in that final session, I was a little bit careless.
"I'm in the semi-finals of the UK, so there's something there. But nobody's really fired on full cylinders yet against me.
"If somebody does that, I'll need to see whether I've got the game to contend with them. If someone comes in against me and scores really heavily, I'm going to need to improve."
Ding survived a nail-biter against world number five Ali Carter, triumphing 9-8 after being behind for almost the entire match.
Carter won the opening three frames before Ding hit back with four in a row. But, after the Essex potter won the eighth frame to level, he then took the lead three times.
The 30-year-old won the first frame of the late session then watched on as his opponent attempted a maximum break.
He certainly seemed to have the necessary luck as he fluked the 11th red but he came unstuck four balls later and had to settle for a break of 96.
Carter then won the next two frames to move 7-5 in front but Ding, who had thrashed defending champion Shaun Murphy 9-3 in the previous round, again refused to buckle.
He took successive frames with breaks of 72 and 86 only for Carter to knock in a 74 to move to within one of victory.
The Essex potter did not register another point, though, his Chinese opponent taking frame 16 with a break of 95 then winning the decider 76-0.
"It was a good performance, especially the last two frames," said Sheffield-based Ding. "I missed easy balls during the match but I kept trying, and in the end my concentration was good."
Looking ahead to his meeting with Maguire, Ding was reluctant to draw too much comfort from his victory over the Scot at the recent Grand Prix.
"He beat me about 100 times before that," said the 22-year-old. "I always enjoy playing him because he makes me try very hard. It will be my toughest match so far."
In today's matches, Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins will attempt to set up a blockbuster semi-final when they face Mark Selby and Liang Wenbo respectively.