Luvo Manyonga clinched victory with his final jump as he sailed more than 10cm past his nearest rival in Shanghai last night.
The world and Commonwealth Games champion launched himself to an 8.56m world lead on the sixth attempt of his opening Diamond League meet of the season.
Once again Manyonga demonstrated his eagerness for trench warfare and performing when the chips are down.
He was languishing at the bottom of the field after opening with two no-jumps, and then lifted himself to third on 8.11 behind China's Yuhao Shi (8.43) and Henry Frayne (8.15) of Australia, Manyonga's closest competitor at the Commonwealth Games.
THINK STRAIGHT
Olympic champion Jeff Henderson - the last man to beat Manyonga in an outdoor competition, when he edged the South African by one centimetre at the 2016 Rio Games - went 8.11 on his fourth attempt to nudge Manyonga into fourth on countback.
No sweat.
Manyonga retaliated with 8.43 on his fourth attempt to move up to second behind Shi, again on countback.He no-jumped his fifth leap and then sealed the win in the final sixth round.
"When Shi went out to 8.43m, I said to myself, I have to think straight. This competition is not a walk in the park.
"I was really pleased to respond with 8.43m and 8.56m. I think you will see that the long jump will be the event to watch this season," said Manyonga, who will compete again in Taiwan.
OTHER SOUTH AFRICANS
Manyonga was the best of the four South Africans on the night, with fellow Commonwealth Games medallists Sunette Viljoen and Wenda Nel missing the top three here.
Nel finished fourth in the 400m hurdles in 55.63sec, well behind in a race where Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad of the US won in 53.77 to edge Jamaican Janieve Russell, the winner in Gold Coast, by one-hundredth of a second.
Sage Watson of Canada, fifth at the Games, was third in 55.23.Javelin-thrower Viljoen, who like Nel ended third at the Commonwealth Games, cleared 60m only once, going 60.79 as she ended sixth. China's Huihui Lyu won in 66.85, clearing 64m on five attempts.
Viljoen, also the Olympic silver medallist, returned to competition in March after several months off because of injury.
GATLIN WELL BEATEN
And Rynardt van Rensburg ended eighth in the men's 800m in 1min 46.57sec.
In a turn-up for the books, Briton Reece Prescod won the 100m in 10.04, with locals Bingtian Su and Zhenye Xie second and third - and Olympic medallists Justin Gatlin (10.20) and Andre De Grasse (10.25) in seventh and eighth.
The next Diamond League meet is in Eugene, Oregon, in the US on May 26...