Luca Brecel staged a superb rally to claim the last five frames of the session and end 14-10 behind in his Cazoo World Championship semi-final with 20-year-old Chinese debutant Si Jiahui.
Belgium’s Brecel had trailed 14-5 in the face of a barrage of big breaks from Si. However, his late surge has kept his dreams of claiming snooker’s biggest prize alive.
If Brecel were to win tomorrow it would be the biggest fightback in Crucible history, no player has ever won a match at the hallowed venue from nine frames behind.
Si led 11-5 coming into the session and showed no signs of relenting when play began this evening. He continued his break building blitz with runs of 90, 132 and 97 to move just three frames from victory at 14-5.
The Bullet was staring down the barrel of defeat, but he summoned an almighty charge to remain in contention. Breaks of 108, 60 and 66 helped Brecel to claim four on the bounce and set up a pulsating final frame of the session.
Brecel crafted a contribution of 53 and had looked set to take the frame before unexpectedly missing a red to the top left. Si had a chance to steal, but showed his first sign of nerves when he missed the green and his opponent cleared to end four behind. Brecel clenched his fist as he left the arena.
They return to play to a finish at 2:30pm.
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