Anthony McGill stunned Shaun Murphy at the Betfred World Championship as last year's runner-up followed title holder Stuart Bingham in being bundled out of the tournament.
Breathtaking scoring from Scottish potter McGill saw the 25-year-old plunder breaks of 64, 85, 81, 50, 117 and a closing 97 to roar back from 6-4 adrift and win 10-8.
On his Crucible debut last year, McGill beat Stephen Maguire before ending Mark Selby's title defence, only to fall to Murphy in the quarterfinals.
This time the Glaswegian had Murphy's measure, and the beaten 2005 world champion applauded his conqueror at the match's end.
After Bingham's defeat by Ali Carter on Saturday night and Peter Ebdon's exit to Marco Fu, Murphy's exit made it three world champions eliminated inside 24 hours.
"I'm extremely pleased," said McGill. "It was a really tough draw for me. I thought I handled myself well."
He has his sights set on the title, but a tough second-round match against in-form Marco Fu comes first. "I possibly could win it. But it'd be nice to better last year's result," said McGill.
After winning through three qualifying rounds, McGill was tuned up for match conditions, which arguably gave him an advantage.
He said: "The difference between top players and qualifiers is very, very marginal. Qualifiers winning matches doesn't surprise me. It might surprise the public but it doesn't surprise the players."
Despite struggling for results on tour in the year since his first Crucible run, McGill looks in terrific form, and he takes inspiration wherever he looks inside the arena.
"You see it on the TV and when you're out there playing you think, 'That's where Ronnie stood when he made his 147', or 'That's where Stephen [Hendry] must have walked on this bit of carpet'. It's an honour to be there. I just think it's perfect."
Beaten Murphy revealed he and partner Elaine are to become parents in August, with a baby boy on the way, and that has given him a new way of analysing results on the table.
He said: "I'm obviously disappointed but I think the fact I've a child on the way has changed my perspective on a lot of things. It's just a game of snooker. I played really well and my preparation couldn't have been better, but unfortunately I played against someone who played even better than I did on the day. I thought it was a great match.
"If he can keep his composure, keep himself under wraps and keep playing with enjoyment, he could take some stopping."
Sinking balls will soon become of secondary importance, as Murphy said: "While working on my long potting I'll have to work on my nappy skills."