Snooker:Crowd favourite Judd Trump hit back from 9-7 down to level his World Championship semi-final against Ding Junhui at 12-12 in a high-quality evening session at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Although Ding lives in the Steel City during the season, it is Trump the Crucible crowds have taken to their hearts in the last fortnight and he is now right back in the frame for the title.
He had back-to-back centuries as he fought back from 10-7 behind to go into Saturday's final session on level terms.
The 21-year-old from Bristol won a host of new fans - and, as Ding noted, admirers - when he landed the China Open title at the start of April.
Ding said: "He's a nice boy. He's got a lot of girlfriends, many girlfriends in China. I don't know if he's more popular than me, you'd have to ask him."
While Ding has plenty of support, notably from Chinese students living in Sheffield, Trump is the player who has brought the thrill factor back to snooker.
Saturday marks a fortnight since he knocked out the defending champion Neil Robertson in round one, and wins over Martin Gould and Graeme Dott have followed.
The morning session saw Ding win six out of eight frames to lead 9-7, and when he added the evening opener with a 64 break - his sixth in a row - the situation for Trump looked bleak.
Ding's match is being watched by a vast television audience in China and he is attempting to keep his mind off the expectations of him at home.
"I think a lot of people would like to watch my first match in the semi-finals but I don't want to think about that, I just want to concentrate on my game," Ding said.
He was not at his best though, and Trump had two breaks of 61 and a 71 to get back to 11-10 before rattling in 102 and 123 to lead again.
Ding made 87 in the closing frame of the session to set up a monumental potential nine frames on Saturday afternoon.