Hossein Vafaei has admitted it is a 'dream come true' to play against Ronnie O'Sullivan after beating him at the World Open.
But the Iranian has also given an honest assessment of his own performance, claiming it was 'unforgivable' that he almost threw the game away in the deciding frame and revealed he was 'nearly crying'.
There is always added spice when the pair face off following comments made by Vafaei about the Rocket at the 2022 World Snooker Championship.
Vafaei said O'Sullivan was 'not good' for snooker and said 'he should retire' to enable the younger generation to come through.
The pair had since met on a couple of occasions before Thursday's encounter in China and put their differences behind them.
Vafaei had beaten O'Sullivan once before at the German Masters but made it two in Yushan.
The match went back and forth before the 29-year-old moved on the brink of victory when he led 4-3.
O'Sullivan then hit a century break to level the match up and take it to a decider.
Vafaei missed a glaring red which appeared to give O'Sullivan a big chance to secure another win.
But O'Sullivan then surprisingly missed on the black and Vafaei was on hand to finish the job and win 5-4.
Vafaei was delighted with the outcome and said it was great to play against his 'hero'.
However, he condemned himself for almost blowing the winning opportunity in the ninth frame.
Vafaei told WST: "I feel great, but to be honest with you I’m still shocked how I missed that red.
"I went down so quick that my eyes couldn’t see anywhere. That was unforgivable.
"All of a sudden the game changed and I thought I was going to lose.
"And then I get a chance and I snooker him. All of a sudden he put me back on a snooker and then luck was involved a little bit as well.
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"I’m very happy to get the victory. He is my hero. Just playing against Ronnie O’Sullivan is a dream come true, but what about winning?"
Vafaei says he was almost overcome with emotion after missing the red.
He felt he gave the momentum to O'Sullivan, who has already won five tournaments this season.
Vafaei added: "I had to control myself but inside I was nearly crying, how did I miss that?
"Because I saw the red on the position on the table and all of a sudden I said 'That's finished, I've done it'.
"And then all of a sudden I missed the red, I don't know how.
"We both didn't play that well but the game was high quality, especially when Ronnie was 4-3 down and then he made the century.
"That was a tough century he made and I thought now he's got a little bit of momentum and it's hard to stop him.
"At the end, I'm so happy, delighted with this win."
