Xiao Guodong secured a 6-3 advantage over Si Jiahui after the opening session of the Wuhan Open final.
The strong afternoon showing leaves 35-year-old Xiao requiring four more frames to secure a first piece of ranking silverware of his career and a top prize of £140,000.
Today's final is only the third in snooker history to feature two players from mainland China and they are gunning to become the seventh player from the country to win a ranking event.
Xiao earned his place in the title match by prevailing in a fiercely contested semi-final with local star Long Zehuang 6-4. Si came through with a sensational 6-2 defeat of world number one Judd Trump, which included his first 147 break. After the match, Trump described that as the best performance anyone has ever produced against him.
The opening two frames this afternoon went the way of Xiao, before Si responded with a century run of 109 to cut his arrears in half. However, it was Xiao who claimed the fourth on the final black to head into the mid-session 3-1 ahead.
When play resumed there was a fiercely contested fifth frame, which again came down to the black. After 55 minutes of play, it was Xiao who eventually took it to lead 4-1.
After winning the sixth, 22-year-old Si crafted a break of 84 to pull within one at 4-3. Xiao showed his class by taking the last two of the session, with runs of 129 and 73, to end three frames ahead.
The final session of this best of 19 final will commence at 7:30pm (CST).