Ronnie O'Sullivan and Zhao Xintong finished level at 4-4 after the first session of their Halo World Championship semi-final at the Crucible.
O'Sullivan started slowly, losing the first two frames, but found some rhythm as he battled back to all-square. They return on Friday at 10am for eight more frames, with a possible eight more on Friday evening then the conclusion on Saturday afternoon. First to 17 frames will go through to the final to face Judd Trump or Mark Williams.
World number five O'Sullivan is playing in the semi-finals in Sheffield for the 14th time, two ahead of Stephen Hendry's previous record of 12. He is aiming to reach the final for the ninth time which would match Hendry's record, and the Rocket has won seven of his eight finals. This is the 94th ranking event semi-final of his career and first since the Xi'an Grand Prix last August.
Zhao is already enjoying the deepest ever run by an amateur in snooker's biggest event. He won four matches just to make it through the qualifying rounds, and has since scored three more victories at the Theatre of Dreams. The 28-year-old from China is hoping to become the first Asian player to life the famous trophy. This is his fourth ranking event semi-final, and on two of the three previous occasions he went on to win the tournament. He becomes the third player from mainland China to compete in the one-table situation at the Crucible, after Ding Junhui and Si Jiahui.
These two have met twice before, O'Sullivan winning 4-3 at the 2016 English Open and 6-1 at the 2022 Champion of Champions.
Breaks of 60 and 62 helped give Zhao the first two frames, before O'Sullivan hit back with 64, 73 and 60 to lead 3-2. Zhao dominated the sixth, before O'Sullivan regained the lead with a break of 82. The last of the session went Zhao's way with a run of 86 to leave the contest perfectly poised.