RONNIE O'Sullivan produced a devastating display of power potting to stage a remarkable comeback against Peter Ebdon in the Embassy World Championships at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield last night.
O'Sullivan had looked down and almost certainly out after ending yesterday afternoon's session trailing 9-5 to the more relaxed number 10 seed. And things got worse for O'Sullivan when Ebdon opened up a five frame lead after stretching his lead to 11-6. However, O'Sullivan then exploded into action reeling off breaks of 63, 139 and 103 in quick succession to trail by two. He then punished an error by a clearly fazed Ebdon with a break of 94, before ending the night with a 66 clearance to level the match at 11-11.
Although the match is finely balanced, O'Sullivan now takes the psychological advantage into this afternoon's final session, with Ebdon waking up this morning hoping to forget the nightmare that was last night.
Meanwhile, a magnificent seven frame onslaught by Stephen Hendry looks to have shot Nigel Bond's championship challenge to ribbons.
Five times champion Hendry now has one foot in yet another world final after establishing a 10-4 overnight lead on British Open champion Bond.
Yet it all looked so unlikely when the World No 12 from Darley Dale grabbed three of the opening four frames during Thursday night's first session.
But he was unable to maintain the momentum, trailed 4-3 when the match resumed yesterday afternoon and was left reeling by Hendry's quick fire start.
In only 50 minutes, the 27 year old Scot practically out the match out of his stablemate's reach. He lost a scrappy 12th frame, but normal service was soon resumed to conclude their latest exchanges on the best possible note.
Breaks of 77 and 52 had propelled the world number one 6-3 ahead before he clinched the vital frame that possibly broke Bond's spirit.
Bond should have reduced his arrears to a more manageable 6-4 deficit having carefully accumulated a 62-point lead. But he jawed a black off its spot and Hendry pounced to win the frame by two points
