Sheffield (Agencies): Luca Brecel produced an incredible display of potting to open up a 15-10 lead over Mark Selby and move within three frames of a first world title.
The Belgian exhibited his full repertoire of shots in sublime breaks of 113, 101 and 141 as he reeled off the first four frames on Monday.
Four-time champion Selby, who trailed 9-8 overnight, briefly rallied with consecutive half-centuries.
But Brecel replied with a run of 119 and took the afternoon’s final frame. The best-of-35 encounter concludes this evening at 19:00 BST.
The manner in which Selby concluded Sunday evening’s second session – a fightback lit up a magnificent 147 maximum break – raised significant questions about how Brecel might respond to seeing his lead whittled down to one frame, having enjoyed a 6-2 advantage after the opening session.
However, in a contest billed as test of Brecel’s mental endurance as much as his undoubted skill, few inside the Cucible Theatre could have been prepared for the 28-year-old’s blistering start.
Brecel fired in doubles, a succession of stunning long pots and seemingly cleared balls at will as he rattled through the first four frames in under an hour. Only Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Steve Davis and John Higgins have played in more Crucible finals than Selby, who has displayed a self-assuredness throughout this contest.
And when the interval arrived there appeared to be a switch in pace and momentum back towards the Englishman.
The 39-year-old built a break of 63 and then capitalised on lapse from Brecel, who overran on a positional shot on 41, to take the following frame.
But the fightback ended there, Brecel knocking in a wonderful long red from Selby’s break-off shot in the penultimate frame and going on to record a dazzling fourth century of the session.
And when Selby rattled the jaws of the corner pocket with a rest shot on the red with only a 39-point lead, Brecel was able to secure a valuable five-frame advantage heading into Monday night’s concluding session.
Brecel is aiming to become the first player from mainland Europe to win the world title and only the fourth non-British winner, alongside Canada’s Cliff Thorburn (1980), Ireland’s Ken Doherty (1997) and Australia’s Neil Robertson (2010).
