Ronnie O'Sullivan won three of the opening four frames of his eagerly-awaited Embassy World Snooker Championship semi-final with fierce rival Stephen Hendry in his bid to regain number one spot in the rankings.
O'Sullivan will leapfrog deposed title holder Mark Williams into top slot by merely reaching Sunday's final, where he would face either Graeme Dott or Matthew Stevens.
But the main priority for the 28-year-old from Chigwell will be to capture his second world crown and bury the Crucible Theatre hoodoo that Hendry holds over him.
There has been no love lost between the pair since O'Sullivan questioned seven-time champion Hendry's sportsmanship before their meeting in the 2002 finals - but there is a huge amount of mutual respect for each others' ability.
The Scot has won all three meetings with O'Sullivan at Sheffield and also triumphed this season in the final of the British Open and the semi-finals of the UK Championships.
But O'Sullivan, under fire for some of his behaviour around the table in the past fortnight, went into the match as overwhelming favourite at 4-7 on with bookmakers to reach his second world final.
O'Sullivan started in confident fashion after Hendry had failed to cut a pink into the black pocket and a break of 85 to the final yellow won him the opening frame in only 10 minutes.
The Rocket was first among the balls in the next but left a red hanging over a pocket and a run of 61 by his 35-year-old opponent proved decisive.
Hendry missed a long red into the green pocket in the third frame to let O'Sullivan in for a useful 33 and he gleamed another break of 47 to restore his advantage.
The final frame before the interval was an uncharacteristic affair strewn with errors from both players and it lasted nearly half an hour.
O'Sullivan led 54-5 and then Hendry broke down on a break of 32 after missing a straightforward looking blue and conceded after his opponent snicked in the final brown.
Dott had seized the initiative in the first semi-final by opening up a surprise 5-3 lead over Stevens, who had started the match 1-4 on to progress past the Scot.