Matthew Stevens opened up a 10-6 lead over England's Shaun Murphy after the first day of their World Snooker Championship final.
Stevens began stronger, 5-3 up after the first session, but nerves got to them both as they made numerous errors. Murphy was leading the last frame until five successive fouls handed Stevens a lifeline which he took gladly.
In the first session, Stevens had established a narrow 5-3 lead in the best-of-35-frame final which concludes on Monday.
The Welsh sixth seed, runner-up in 2000 and three-times a losing semi-finalist, shared the opening four frames with surprise English package Murphy looking to become the first qualifier to win the title since Terry Griffiths in 1979.
But neither player was at their typically fluent best with nerves seemingly at last catching up with 22-year-old Murphy, who was guaranteed plenty of local support on account of being based in the nearby northern England town of Rotherham.
Murphy, the lowest ranked player, at number 48, in the sport's history to reach the final had started the tournament as a 150-1 title shot and was already assured of more than eight times his previous biggest pay day - 15,000 pounds for reaching the first round in 2003.
Breaks of 39 and 24 in the opener left Stevens needing two snookers, both of which he got, before Murphy clinched the 32-minute long frame.
Stevens levelled with a break of 68 in the next before Murphy's lack of experience showed when, trying to swerve around the black in an attempt to pot a red while 23 points in arrears, he simply left it over the pocket.
Presented with an opening, Stevens rattled off a break of 60 to go 2-1 up. But the 4/7 favourite with the bookmakers was pegged back to all-square at the mid-session interval after Murphy fluked a pink.
Stevens regained the lead with a break of 41 to go 3-2 ahead only to let Murphy off the hook in the penultimate frame of the session after the Englishman broke down on 56.
Then Stevens, the former UK and Masters champion, struck that fine black to end a session that, at over three hours long, was an endurance test for players and fans alike.
