JUDD Trump is closing in on a quarter-final place at this year's Betfred.com World Championship.
The Bristol potter and world No 2, last year's beaten finalist, trailed 5-3 overnight to Ali Carter, but fought back to establish a 9-7 lead ahead of the concluding session of the best-of-25 frames duel.
The 22-year-old left-hander needs to win four of a possible nine frames in today's concluding session to keep his hopes alive of pocketing the £250,000 top prize.
Victory would also see a meeting with either one of two qualifiers, Welshman Jamie Jones or Andrew Higginson, from Widnes.
A fine 120 break saw Trump kick-off the penultimate afternoon session with a bang – and this season's UK Championship winner needed a further 28 minutes to level matters by pinching a scrappy tenth frame.
Tiptree cueman Carter, the 2008 Crucible runner-up, responded with a gutsy 112 break, slamming in the final black with an angry look on his face. There's certainly no love lost between the pair with Carter having been critical of Trump in some his post-match press conferences.
But Trump held his nerve and was soon all-square again thanks to a break of 43 in the next frame, which took the players in to their mid-session interval.
However, it was Trump who returned the better after the break and he went ahead for the first time in the match thanks to a break of 80.
A break of 60 followed as Trump edged 8-6 in front to leave Carter with plenty to ponder.
World No 17 Carter hit back with a break of 57 to steal the 15th frame after Trump had missed his chance to pull further ahead having failed to take advantage of a break of 37 and in among the balls.
But the Whitchurch cueman made sure he took a welcome two-frame lead with him into the final session of the match. Growing in confidence having overcome bad food poisoning which nearly forced to him to pull out of the tournament on the morning of his first-round match with Welshman Dominic Dale, Trump finished in style with a 79 break.
The job is not done, but the two-time ranking event winner looks more like his usual self – and the long pots are starting to fly in just at the right time.
Meanwhile, triple world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan established a commanding 11-5 lead over Mark Williams.
The Rocket resumed 5-3 up on Welshman Williams, but wasted no time in producing his vintage best as he cruised into a deserved eight-frame lead, which leaves him needing just two frames to progress to the next stage.
Williams, the double world champion, was left shell-shocked and spent most of the afternoon glued to his seat as O'Sullivan reeled off six frames on the spin. But he at least spared himself the ignominy of losing with a session to spare by winning one frame of the penultimate session, although defeat is surely around the corner when the two green-baize heavyweights resume tonight to conclude their best-of-25 frames duel.
Having won the final three frames of the opening session from 3-2 behind with breaks of 86 and 48, O'Sullivan made it a combined nine frames on the bounce with breaks of 107, 74, 51, 68, 128 and 93.
It was exhilarating potting from the sport's greatest entertainer.
Williams rallied with a spirited 86 break to prevent himself losing with a session to spare.
And the world No 4 pinched the last frame of the session to give himself a glimmer of hope but, barring a remarkable comeback, it looks like O'Sullivan, chasing his first Crucible title since 2008, will be playing Australian Neil Robertson in the next round.
The fact that Halloween fell on a Monday didn't stop stars from celebrating last night in New York City?or Los Angeles, either.
In addition to Heidi Klum and Miranda Kerr's...
Police are looking for a man who tried to steal money from Immaculate Conception Church in Irwin. He first entered the church between morning and afternoon mass on April 20th. 
Shirley Halperin