Snooker:John Higgins and Shaun Murphy shared the opening eight frames as the Betfred.com World Championship final got under way.
They finished at 4-4 after the first session as the close contest which had been widely predicted looked to be materialising.
Higgins made a bright start with a break of 78 in the opening frame, and further runs of 33, 52 and 43 gave him a 3-0 lead.
But Murphy cut his lead following a break of 58 and made it 3-2 despite giving away 28 points after being put in a tricky snooker in the next frame.
He twice missed all the balls, hit the black on two occasions and also ran the cue ball into the pink.
Higgins was left with a chance after Murphy eventually did hit the red, but he could not take it.
Murphy made the most of his opportunity and then produced the first century of the final, 109, which hauled him level at 3-3.
That took the total of centuries this year to 81, 13 higher than the previous tournament record.
Murphy won his fourth frame in a row to lead 4-3, the key moment coming when Higgins failed to escape from a snooker on the blue, leaving the white ball behind the black.
After being asked to play from the more difficult new position, Higgins did hit the blue but sent it over the top pocket and Murphy rolled it in before taking the pink to clinch the frame.
Higgins ensured he would not trail going into the evening session by building on a break of 50 to take the eighth frame.
The Scot was looking to secure his 20th career ranking title, and his third world crown, but there was a long way to go with 18 frames required for victory.
Higgins turns 34 on May 18th, and victory tomorrow would make him the oldest Crucible champion since Dennis Taylor triumphed at the age of 36 in 1985.
Murphy has been dogged by claims about his private life this year following the breakdown of his marriage, but he has stayed focused on his goal of lifting the trophy in Sheffield and landing the £250,000 winners’ cheque.
Victory would make him the fifth player to have won the double of UK
Championship and World Championship in the same season, after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams.
The second Crucible title of the 26-year-old’s career would also nudge him up from third to second place in next year’s world rankings.
Both men had survived scares in their semi-finals, with Mark Allen’s fightback causing Higgins to briefly contemplate quitting the sport, while Murphy admitted he would have lost to a resurgent Neil Robertson but for a timely interval in their final session.