Qualifier Sam Baird finished with a break of 85 to peg back former world champion Mark Selby at 4-4 at the end of the opening session of their second round match at the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield.
Marco Fu maintained his two-frame advantage over qualifier Anthony McGill after a gruelling morning session.
The 14th seed, bidding to reach the quarter-finals for the second time in his career, will go into Friday evening's final session with a 9-7 lead in their best-of-25 encounter.
Resuming at 5-3 behind, McGill, the first-round conqueror of last year's beaten finalist Shaun Murphy, won the first three frames of the day to nudge 6-5 in front.
Fu won the next two to regain his slender lead, before McGill recovered the two snookers he required to win a marathon frame 14 and level the score again.
With both players under-performing in an increasingly scrappy affair, Fu won the final two frames of the morning session to establish himself as favourite to progress to the last eight.
Also on Friday morning, former champion Mark Williams could count himself fortunate to find himself level at 4-4 against qualifier Michael Holt.
Holt, who stunned Neil Robertson in the first round, raced into a 4-1 lead, but Williams, despite never hitting top form, clawed his way back to level at 4-4 ahead of the evening's resumption.
Ali Carter will take a two-frame lead into the final session of his second round match against veteran Alan McManus on Saturday morning.
Former runner-up Carter edged a long and safety-dominated session for a 9-7 advantage, with McManus in particular appearing upset with the table conditions.
