Stephen Hendry built a commanding lead against Ronnie O'Sullivan in their Travis Perkins UK Championship semi-final at York today.
The five-times champion ended the opening session leading three-times winner O'Sullivan 6-2. Hendry, helped by a break of 67, won the first frame and then opened a 2-0 lead with a run of 118.
O'Sullivan, who beat Hendry in the 1993 and 1997 UK finals, coolly responded with a break of 94, missing the pink for what would have been his 12th century of the tournament, to make it 2-1.
Hendry went in-off the black early in the fourth and O'Sullivan eventually clinched it in three visits but found himself behind again when Hendry won the fifth with a run of 85. And further breaks of 84 and 66 enabled Hendry to move into a 5-2 lead before an effort of 71 gave him his four-frame lead.
O'Sullivan holds the edge in career meetings with 20 wins to Hendry's 17 but the pair are so evenly matched that before the semi-final, O'Sullivan had won only three more frames than his Scottish rival.
Hendry came from 5-3 down to win their last match, the British Open final at the Brighton Centre two weeks ago. The 34-year-old won six of the last seven frames to pocket the £52,000 first prize as a 9-6 winner.
It was his 35th world-ranking title and his first since being forced to use a new cue after his previous model was broken by baggage handlers two months ago. Hendry's Brighton triumph dispelled any lingering doubts that he could perform without the piece of wood with which he won seven world titles.
And his manager, Ian Doyle, believes losing the cue, which many experts believed was sub-standard, could be the best thing to happen to the world number two.
"I think Stephen should seriously consider getting a present for those baggage handlers because they've done a wonderful job," Doyle said. "A number of people said he should have got rid of his old cue years ago. What pleases me now is that he's applied himself with the new cue and is really enjoying his snooker again."
O'Sullivan produced some electric snooker to reach the semi-finals, compiling a total of 11 century breaks in his three matches. But off table, the controversial 27-year-old has suffered an all too familiar emotional rollercoaster ride of highs and lows.
After beating Ian McCulloch 9-3 in the opening round, he was upbeat but admitted to "crying in the bath for 20 minutes" between sessions of his 9-5 defeat of Alan McManus.
O'Sullivan, who is prescribed Prozac to battle depression, was in happier mood after beating Australian Quinten Hann 9-3 in the quarter-finals.
The Essex enigma said he had done himself the power of good by "getting it all off my chest".
Welshman Matthew Stevens, who beat Jimmy White 9-7 yesterday, was waiting for the winner of the best-of-17 frames clash which resumes at 7pm tonight.