Ronnie O'Sullivan edged closer to a sixth World Snooker crown as he took a 10-7 overnight lead over Mark Selby.
Play resumes on Monday at 14:00 BST with the Rocket needing eight frames for a third consecutive Crucible win.
At one stage it appeared as if O'Sullivan would run
away with things after dominant breaks of 131 and 87 in the 14th and
15th frames.
But battling Selby claimed the final two frames of an intriguing second session.
Just as he had in the first session, O'Sullivan won the opening
three frames of the second, although neither player was at their
free-flowing best early on.
Selby went on to win the next two, with a 55 break in
the 12th before an O'Sullivan foul on the final green had the Leicester
potter dreaming of a way back in at 8-5.
But that was the cue for O'Sullivan to turn on the
style by winning the next two frames with ease in a whirlwind 20-minute
period, which included his 12th century break of the tournament.
It appeared as if Selby's exertions in
Saturday's marathon 17-15 victory over Neil Robertson
would catch up with him.
However, he showed his trademark battling qualities and
clinched the 16th with 58 and then the final frame of the day with 62,
his two highest breaks of the match, to remain in contention.
The world number three was earlier left to rue a poor
miss when closing in on 4-4 in the final frame of the afternoon session.
The "Jester from Leicester" failed to pot a ball in the
opening frame and then O'Sullivan took advantage of some poor safety
shots to wrap up the second, and then third with a 102 break.
But Selby came back into things by winning two tactical frames either side of the interval.
A break of 63 saw the Essex player take the sixth frame
but a couple of uncharacteristic poor safety shots in the seventh gave
his opponent the chance of going into the evening session all square.
He looked on course to level when fluking the final
red, but a poor miss on the subsequent black gifted O'Sullivan the
frame.
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