John Higgins and Barry Hawkins finished level at 4-4 after the first session of their Sportsbet.io Tour Championship semi-final in Manchester.
In a high quality session, Hawkins made a tournament high break of 140 in the last frame of the afternoon, setting up an intriguing conclusion. They return at 7pm on Friday evening with first to ten frames to go through to Sunday's final against Mark Selby or Ding Junhui.
Higgins is playing his 88th ranking event semi-final and third in the space of five weeks as he won the World Open and lost to Judd Trump in the semis of the Sportsbet.io Players Championship. Victory would bring a 58th ranking final, just six behind Ronnie O'Sullivan's record of 64.
Hawkins has been in tremendous form this week, beating Shaun Murphy 10-1 and Judd Trump 10-5. He is looking for a third ranking final of the season, having finished runner-up at the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship and Machineseeker German Masters. If the Londoner goes all the way to the title, it would be the most prestigious trophy of his career and bring a highest pay day of £150,000.
World number six Higgins dominated the first two frames, before Hawkins hit back with breaks of 86, 79 and 97 to lead 3-2. He led 52-0 in frame six but Scotland's Higgins pulled out a marvellous 62 clearance which included several pots on reds which were close to cushions.
In the seventh, Higgins missed the yellow to a baulk corner when he led 53-0, but Hawkins' counter ended on 16 when he accidentally knocked a red in when potting the pink, and his opponent took advantage to edge 4-3 ahead. World number 12 Hawkins slotted in a superb long red at the start of the eighth to initiate the 140 total clearance, leaving them all square.