Snooker:Two-time finalist Matthew Stevens held off a late surge from Ireland's Crucible rookie Mark Allen to take a 5-3 lead in their World Championship second-round clash.
The world number 14 made breaks of 83 and 56 in taking the opening four frames as Ken Doherty's conqueror began to show signs of nerves.
Allen needed five attempts to hit red ball in the first frame after the Welshman's excellent snooker in behind the yellow from the break.
But the former world amateur champion returned a different player after the interval, demonstrating the same prolific potting which brought an early end to Doherty's campaign.
He made quickfire breaks of 101, 65 and 118 to narrow the deficit to 4-3 in little more than half an hour.
But Stevens, who defeated Joe Delaney in the opening round, maintained the high standard in the final frame of the session, compiling an 85 break to secure a two-frame lead going into tomorrow morning's second session.
Waiting for them in the next round will be Shaun Murphy or John Parrott, who rolled back the years to give himself a chance of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 1999.
Resuming 5-3 behind, the 1991 champion left to a standing ovation following one of his finest performances in recent years to put the 2005 champion under pressure going into tonight's final session.
Murphy took two of the day's opening three frames before Parrot, 42, began to show glimpses of the form which saw him triumph here 16 years ago, winning five of the remaining six frames and finishing with a break of 123.
Elsewhere, Stephen Maguire is on course to go beyond the second round for the first time as he leads two-time Sheffield semi-finalist Joe Swail 6-2.
Number nine seed Maguire reeled off six frames in a row to compound a miserable day for Northern Ireland's Swail.
The 37-year-old qualifier potted 12 reds and 11 blacks to create a glorious chance of a 147 clearance but the break ended after he ran out of position.
The winner of that match will face either Nottingham's Anthony Hamilton or 2005 semi-finalist Ian McCulloch, who remain deadlocked at 8-8 going into tomorrow morning's final session.
There was little to choose between the pair in a scrappy encounter, with McCulloch, who ended Graeme Dott's title defence, managing breaks of 64 and 56 and 16th seed Hamilton posting a 63.