THIS is the moment Si Jiahui sent the crowd into a frenzy after making an inch-perfect escape shot at the Masters.
World No4 Mark Allen thought he’d set up a near impossible snooker before Chinese debutant Si found a way out.
Si came to the table with the cue ball trapped behind the blue near the baulk cushion.
But the 22-year-old remarkably escaped with a shot of the tournament contender.
Si was nowhere near close to hitting one of the two remaining reds with either of his first two tries.
But he drew huge cheers from the Ally Pally crowd when he hit between two long reds after travelling down the table.
The audience immediately began rejoicing when the cue ball screwed off the cushion with spin from a squared angle.
A commentator said: “Brilliant! Brilliant! Wow I have never heard an applause like that in snooker.
“But it’s very deserved. Great shot.”
However Allen went on to claim the gruelling first frame, which lasted more than 40 minutes.
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D102896%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]The next five games were all won with breaks of 60 or more, with former World Championship semi-finalist Si making 103 in frame two.
But Allen responded with 111 on his way to a 4-2 lead, before claiming a fifth and securing a scrappy sixth frame.
The Northern Irishman told Eurosport: “I played well there, I missed one or two shots in the whole game, I just felt like I got the better of the safety side of it.
“He’s such a dangerous player, you need to keep it tight and I did that tonight.
“These are the events you want to play in, this is one of the biggest events in our calendar and probably the best area we play in in front of amazing fans.”
Allen will play Mark Selby in the quarter-finals on Thursday.