Ronnie O'Sullivan is still on course to lift his first Embassy World Championship crown despite a late comeback from John Higgins in the third session of the final at Sheffield.
O'Sullivan led 10-6 overnight and then increased his lead to 14-7 before 1998 champion Higgins triumphed in the final three frames to give himself an outside chance going into the final session.
But 'The Rocket' is still firm favourite as he will require only four of the remaining 11 frames to win the coveted title.
O'Sullivan, beaten in three previous semi-finals at the Crucible Theatre, initially continued in the invincible form he has shown for the past fortnight.
Higgins did little wrong but was powerless to stem the flow of sizeable breaks reeled off in rapid succession by a totally focused O'Sullivan.
The first frame of the afternoon set the pattern with O'Sullivan putting together an 81 clearance to the blue to move 11-6 ahead.
Higgins briefly retaliated with a run of 65 in the next which ensured that the match would continue into the evening session.
But it was only a brief respite and, after a re-rack in frame 19, O'Sullivan was on his way again with a long red into the yellow pocket.
It set him on his way to a 139 total clearance and in the last frame before the mid-session interval Higgins again failed to pot a ball as O'Sullivan stormed in with a run of 85.
Already it was looking as if Higgins was facing too great a mountain to climb against an opponent playing at the very top of his game.
O'Sullivan continued in the same unconquerable vein immediately after the resumption with an 86 clearance.
That meant Higgins had failed to score a point in the previous three frames while O'Sullivan had amassed 357.
That sequence finally ended in the next after O'Sullivan, having added five more points, missed a cut on the blue into the middle pocket.
A final run off 33 enabled Higgins to reduce O'Sullivan's advantage to six frames.
The 'Wizard of Wishaw' then held his nerve in the 23rd after a couple of uncharacteristic errors by O'Sullivan with a decisive run of 65.
Then Higgins completed a hat-trick of frames with a splendid run of 98 in the final frame to give him a glimmer of hope.
The quality of play is such that in the match so far O'Sullivan has compiled two centuries and eight other 50 plus breaks while Hggins has put together two tons and four other breaks over 50. -PA