Ireland¿s Ken Doherty ended the first session of his World Championship quarter-final against Stephen Hendry all square at 4-4 in Sheffield today.
Doherty, the 1997 World Champion, settled well and opened up a two frame lead with breaks of 64 and 76.
Hendry then replied with breaks of 81 and 92 to level the match at 2-2.
Doherty, who beat Hendry in that 1997 final, edged ahead with a frame-winning break of 82 in the fifth before his opponent leveled again with a superb break of 141.
The Dubliner took the seventh frame with a well constructed 82 to lead 4-3 but Hendry, who is seeking his eighth world title, fought back in tremendous style to leave the match finely balanced ahead of this evening's session.
Hendry potted 15 reds and 14 blacks in frame eight before a bad contact on the final black ended his hopes of recording a maximum 147 break.
Elsewhere, John Higgins lost the opening three frames of his quarter-final against 2000 finalist Matthew Stevens but staged a gutsy fight back to draw level at 4-4.
The two remaining quarter-finals start this afternoon with Ronnie O'Sullivan facing Stephen Lee and Peter Ebdon playing Anthony Hamilton.