John Higgins will take a 13-12 lead into the last session of the Betfred.com World Championship final against Judd Trump after reeling off four frames in a row on Monday afternoon.
The Wishaw potter, chasing his fourth world title, had trailed 10-7 overnight in the best-of-37 contest.
Qualifier Trump, making his maiden appearance in the Crucible showpiece, split the opening four frames of the day to leave himself in control at 12-9 ahead.
He responded to Higgins' 59 in the opener with a 104 in the next, his third century of the match.
Higgins rolled in a 97 to again cut his deficit to two, only to see his 21-year-old opponent hit back with 99 to restore a three-frame cushion at the mid-session interval.
Turnaround
It was a very different story, however, when the players returned from their cup of tea.
Trump had a real chance of going four frames clear and took on a tricky blue but failed to cut it in. Higgins did so but left himself awkward on the pink. He sneaked it in though and fortunately flicked the black over the pocket.
Higgins got back to 12-11 with a run of 93 after Trump missed a long blue.
Trump was struggling by now and overcut a difficult brown off the opening red in the next frame.
It went level when Higgins fired in 113, and the 35-year-old added 57 to take the next and leave himself needing another five when play resumes at 7pm.
