John Higgins leads 5-3 after the first session of the Sportsbet.io Tour Championship final, though Mark Selby took the last two frames of the afternoon to raise his hopes of a fight back.
After a dominant spell from Higgins, Selby finished the opening session with back-to-back centuries to give himself some momentum ahead of tonight's conclusion at Manchester Central. First to ten frames will lift the trophy and bank the top prize of £150,000. Both players are looking to win this title for the first time.
Scotland's Higgins, who turns 50 next month, won his first ranking title in four years at the World Open last month and is now looking to double his tally for the season. That triumph in China set a new record for the longest gap between first and most recent ranking titles, and he could extend that record tonight; it is 30 years and 165 days since his maiden victory at the 1994 Grand Prix.
He is playing in his 58th ranking final and looking for a 33rd title, which would leave him just three short of Stephen Hendry's tally of 36, albeit still well behind Ronnie O'Sullivan's record of 41. Currently sixth in the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings, Higgins could go above Selby into third if he wins the title. The £60,000 runner-up prize would leave him fourth.
Selby is looking for a fourth trophy of the season having won the Unibet British Open (beating Higgins 10-5 in the final), BetVictor Championship League and BetVictor Welsh Open. Not since 2016/17 has he won more than three pieces of silverware in a single campaign. The 41-year-old from Leicester is playing in his 37th ranking final and looking for a 25th title which would bring him level with Neil Robertson in seventh place on the all-time list. He has won 16 of his previous 25 meetings with today's opponent.
Higgins took the opening frame in three scoring visits before Selby levelled with a superb break of 135. Runs of 68 and 102 put Higgins 3-1 ahead, and he got the better of a marathon 57-minute fifth frame by winning a safety battle with four reds left. When he took the sixth with a break of 102, Higgins looked in full command at 5-1.
However Selby is known for his fighting qualities and took the next two with 112 and 136, taking his tally of centuries this week to ten.
They resume at 7pm.