Mark Williams battled from 7-3 down to 8-8 in the second session of his Halo World Championship semi-final against Judd Trump.
An enthralling contest is perfectly poised at the halfway stage, with eight more frames from 10am on Saturday then the conclusion in the evening. First to 17 will progress to the final to meet Ronnie O'Sullivan or Zhao Xintong. World number one Trump has not been behind since losing the opening frame, but can't pull away from his more experienced opponent.
Trump is looking for a fourth Crucible final, having won the title in 2019 and finished runner-up to John Higgins in 2011 and Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2022. Williams is aiming for a fifth final - he lost his first against Stephen Hendry in 1999 but then lifted the trophy in 2000, 2003 and 2018. Having turned 50 last month, he would be the oldest ever finalist, eclipsing Ray Reardon who was 49 when he was denied the title by Alex Higgins in 1982.
Leading 5-3 after the first session, Trump took the opening frame today with breaks of 52 and 70. Williams was on 57 in the next when he missed the black off its spot, and his opponent punished him with an excellent 65 clearance. World number six Williams stormed back with 105 - the 99th century of the tournament - and 84 to close to 7-5.
Trump had a chance to clear from 39-0 down in frame 12, but ran out of position on 20, and later made a safety error which handed Williams the chance to draw within one. Trump dominated a scrappy 14th for 8-6, then frame 15 lasted 36 minutes and came to a tense conclusion, Williams converting a marvellous long pot on the final brown and adding blue and pink to halve the gap. And he finished the session with a break of 96 to leave them all square.
Three years ago, Trump beat Williams 17-16 in an epic semi-final, and he will hope to use that memory as inspiration when they return tomorrow.