Ronnie O'Sullivan reached his 64th ranking final - 31 years after his first - after a hard-fought 10-7 victory over Gary Wilson at the Tour Championship.
The Rocket, who lifted his maiden ranking title at the 1993 UK Championship as a 17-year-old, maintained his incredible form this season at the age of 48 despite a stern challenge from a battling opponent.
O'Sullivan has picked up five titles - including the ranked UK Championship and World Grand Prix - from just 11 events entered during the current campaign and will now target a record-extending 42nd ranking crown against either Mark Allen or Mark Williams on Sunday.
Victory in Manchester would also see him draw level with Steve Davis on 81 overall professional snooker titles but the way Wilson pushed him hard until 7-7 will give his fellow finalist hope of stopping him.
Having fallen 2-0 down early on during the afternoon session, O'Sullivan compiled two century breaks of 102 and 110 in the next four frames to open up a 4-2 advantage only for this season's Scottish Open and Welsh Open champion to restore parity at 4-4.
O'Sullivan took three of the opening four frames in the evening session to forge 7-5 ahead and although a gusty Wilson fought back to level the scores again, the Rocket found another gear with runs of 77, 97 and a closing century of 129 to race into the final.