Steve Davis has his work cut out tonight to stay in the UK Championship at York's Barbican Centre.
The six-times UK title holder trails 1998 and 1999 runner-up Matthew Stevens 5-3 with nine frames to play.
Things looked bleak for Davis straight from the start as Stevens gained a 3-0 advantage with breaks of 64, 95 and 55.
Davis pinched a 40-minute, high-scoring fourth frame on the black before Stevens' fourth half-century restored his three-frame cushion.
But Davis fought back by taking two of the last three frames to give himself a glimmer of hope for this evening.
World number one Mark Williams, without a ranking tournament title for 14 months, cued superbly to gain a 6-2 advantage over Mancunian Nick Dyson.
He rolled in back-to-back breaks of 121 and 109 following earlier runs of 62, 52 and 59. Dyson showed his mettle by making 82 in the last frame to reduce his deficit.
Ken Doherty, a semi-finalist in last week's European Open, resumes this evening needing three frames to book a place in the last 16.
PA