Welshman Matthew Stevens is one frame away from reaching the quarter-finals of the Embassy World Championships after a destructive display against veteran Jimmy White.
The world number six led 5-3 overnight after the first session of the pair's best-of-25 clash at The Crucible but won seven out of tonight's evening session frames to surge ahead of White.
A beaten finalist in 2000, Stevens rattled in breaks of 59, 90 and 65 respectively before the world number 11, a five-times beaten finalist, won his first and only frame of the evening.
A high break of 39 was all that White could muster as he failed to give his fans anything to shout about in South Yorkshire.
But Stevens, three-times a beaten semi-finalist, finished the session in fine style with back-to-back centuries.
At one stage it even looked like the Carmarthen-based player would amass a maximum 147 break, achieved earlier in the tournament by friend and fellow Welshman Mark Williams.
However, with five reds left and the balls well-placed in the 13th frame to achieve the magical feat, Stevens missed a routine black.
But maximum miss aside, 27-year-old Stevens now looks to have booked his place in the last eight barring a bizarre twist of fate.
The opening frame, a scrappy affair, saw Stevens extend his advantage, before a 59 break made it 7-3.
The lead increased after Stevens dug in to snatch the next with two breaks of 34, before it became 9-3 after a composed 90 run.
A 65 break followed before White had his highest break, a 39 clearance to reduce his arrears.
But the comeback was short-lived as a 106 and 121 break completed a memorable evening for Stevens.
They resume at 2.30pm tomorrow, but even White will know his chances of winning an elusive Embassy World Championship crown seem to have escaped him once again.
The eventual winner will meet seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry in the next round, due to start on Tuesday at 10am.
Stephen Lee took a commanding 6-2 lead over former world champion Peter Ebdon after their opening session.
Wiltshire's Lee, the world number nine, lost 13-12 to Ebdon when the pair met in the second round at the Embassy World Championship in 2002.
But Lee started the brighter and won a scrappy opener which lasted 42 minutes, before 2002 winner Ebdon hit back to level matters.
But it was one-way traffic as Lee then won the next four frames on the spin to forge 5-1 ahead.
Two breaks of 52 and 61 meant Ebdon's chances of progressing were getting slimmer and slimmer but the world number eight is renowned for gritting it out and he won the next frame on a re-spotted black, a frame which again went over the 40-minute mark.
Lee, though, regained his healthy four-frame cushion courtesy of a 52 break in the final frame of the day, although it took him over half an hour to make it 6-2.
The match resumes at 10am tomorrow with the final session, if required, due to be played at 7pm tomorrow.
Two-time Embassy world champion Mark Williams snatched a slender 5-3 advantage over Preston's Ian McCulloch with a cool display of potting in their entertaining second-round clash.
The Welshman, winner of the world crown in 2000 and 2003, compiled two century breaks - 133 and 102 respectively - to give the Lancashire left-hander plenty to think about.
It was an excellent long pot in a black ball-decided final frame of the session which saw Williams earn himself a welcome two-frame cushion.
Having missed a routine red into the middle on a break of 62, Williams was given a reprieve when McCulloch, himself on a break of 36, ran out of position on the black he needed to secure a 4-4 scoreline.
That error proved costly and after a couple of safety exchanges, Williams, full of confidence after his memorable 147 maximum earlier in the week, held his nerve to sink the black and deny McCulloch the chance to level.
McCulloch admitted afterwards he was happy with a 5-3 scoreline, although to have finished at 4-4 would have been a real bonus in the circumstances.
The Englishman started the better and despite Williams opening his account with a 59 break, he won the first frame of the pair's best-of-25 match on a re-spotted black.
Williams hit back with a magnificent 133, before McCulloch restored his lead with a break of 60.
But Cardiff-based Williams, also a beaten finalist in 1999, replied in style to win the next three frames.
In the fifth he grabbed his second century of the match (102) and then had breaks of 49 and 60 to edge 4-2 ahead.
McCulloch hit back with a 90 break but squandered his chance to share the spoils, and Williams made no mistake with the long black he needed to edge closer to a place in the quarter-finals.
Scores:
# Stevens Wal 12-4 White Eng
61-62 83-1 45-70 83-17 (55) 80-8 (50) 64-20 49-63 76-50 (66) 58-30 83-0 (59) 68-1 97-0 (90) 66-1 (65) 18-71 110-13(106) 121-3 (121)
# Higgins Sco 7-9 Murphy Eng
72-7 (66) 89-16 (85) 63-40 (51) 55-56 82-0 (62) 0-129 (129) 20-80 0-79 43-70 56-61 65-0 (52) 0-97 74-12 1-97 (97) 6-72 (72) 88-13 (68)
# Both matches resume on Monday at 2.30pm.
* Lee Eng 6-2 Ebdon Eng
76-43 0-63 111-7 (61) 78-0 (52) 52-50 70-6 (52) 69-76
* Williams Wal 5-3 McCulloch Eng
71-78 (59 Williams, respotted black) 143-0 (133) 42-60 (60) 79-0 102-30 (102) 115-16 (60) 0-90 (90) 70-68 (62)
* Both matches resume on Monday at 10am.
