Ronnie O'Sullivan will hope to avoid Stephen Maguire for the rest of the season after slumping to a second successive defeat at the hands of the talented Scot.
World number one O'Sullivan, chasing a fourth UK crown, lost 9-6 in his opening match at the Travis Perkins UK Championship in York on Saturday night.
And the 28-year-old from Chigwell found lightning does strike twice.
Nine days ago at the British Open semi-finals in Brighton, O'Sullivan lost his title as Maguire registered a 6-1 win.
The 23-year-old from Glasgow showed that result was no fluke by matching 'the Rocket' shot for shot at the Barbican Centre.
In a match containing five century breaks, the deposed champion contributed runs of 113, 118 and 102; Maguire notched breaks of 100 and 102 plus further efforts of 79, 75, 75, a crucial 50 in frame 12, 93 and 55.
O'Sullivan, the youngest ever winner of a ranking title when beating Stephen Hendry in the 1993 UK final at the age of 17, said: "Stephen punished every mistake and deserved to win.
"This defeat will hurt in a couple of hours time but there's no point in being down. I'm big enough and ugly enough to know you are not going to win every match.
"I played a lot better in that game than I did in three games in Brighton and in three matches at the World Championship last season."
O'Sullivan, who won the last of his three UK titles in 2001, led for the last time at 5-4.
Maguire levelled at 5-5 before taking four of the final five frames to set up a third round meeting with six times UK champion Steve Davis tomorrow.
"To beat Ronnie twice on the spin is quite special," said the reigning European Open champion after his win in Malta earlier this year.
O'Sullivan believes Maguire is destined for greatness and after the match, the Scot revealed: "Ronnie said 'keep going like you are and you can rule the game for the next 10 years'. I could hardly take it all in and I had to ask him twice but they're great words."
Other results: Pinches bt Stevens 9-4; King bt Williams 9-3; Hawkins bt Hendry 9-7.