Judd Trump is just three frames away from the Huading Nylon World Open title having taken a 7-2 lead over Ding Junhui in the first session of the final in Yushan.
The match resumes at 7.30pm local time (11.30am UK time) and first to ten frames will win the £170,000 top prize at a tournament which was last staged in 2019.
Trump is aiming to win his 28th ranking title, which would bring him level with Steve Davis on the all-time list and behind only Ronnie O'Sullivan (41), Stephen Hendry (36) and John Higgins (31). The 34-year-old from Bristol hopes to win his fifth ranking title of the season, having already landed the BetVictor English Open, Wuhan Open, BetVictor Northern Ireland Open and BetVictor German Masters.
If he comes out on top, it will be the third time within five years that he has won five (or more) ranking titles in a single campaign, having landed a record six in 2019/20 and five the following season. The only other players to achieve that feat are Hendry (five in 1990/91), Ding (five in 2013/14), Mark Selby (five in 2016/17) and O’Sullivan (five in 2017/18).
Trump, who won this event in 2019, is playing in the 44th ranking event final of his career and seventh of the season. He is sure to remain number two in the world whatever the result, but the top prize would significantly close the gap on leader O'Sullivan. And Trump is streaks ahead at the top of the one-year list - if he wins today then he will have earned £711,000 this season from ranking events alone.
China's 36-year-old Ding is seeking his 15th ranking title and first since the 2019 UK Championship - though he did win the invitational Six Red World Championship last year. He has shown impressive form this season, particularly in a run to the final of the MrQ UK Championship where he lost to O'Sullivan.
Ding is playing in his 23rd ranking final and victory would boost him from ninth to sixth in the official rankings, while defeat will leave him seventh. He is also sure to jump into the top four of the one-year list which means he will be seeded straight into the quarter-finals for the Johnstone's Paint Tour Championship.
Notable previous meetings include a 6-4 win for Ding in the semi-finals of this season's MrQ UK Championship and a 9-5 success for the Asian ace when they clashed in the final of the 2014 German Masters, while Trump has won three of their four matches at the Crucible.
A top break of 88 helped Trump win the first three frames today, before Ding pulled one back with a run of 59. After the interval, Trump dominated, taking four in a row with breaks of 59, 79 and 78. Ding won the last of the session with a 106 to raise his hopes of a fight back, but he needs eight of the last ten in the concluding session.