Ronnie O'Sullivan recovered from a poor start to lead Graeme Dott 9-7 after two sessions of the world championship final.
Dott, a 200-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, won the first five frames with immaculate snooker including breaks of 71, 77, 64 and 60.
But O'Sullivan, who crushed seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry in the semi-final, held his nerve, stopping the rot with a break of 100 and winning the last three frames of the opening session.
O'Sullivan drew level at 6-6 and after the Scot again edged ahead at 7-6 the young Englishman, world champion in 2001, won the last three frames to move two frames clear in the best-of-35 frame match which resumes today.