Mark Allen leads Shaun Murphy 5-3 in the final of snooker's Scottish Open after edging an engrossing first session.
Runner-up last week in York, Allen has had to dig deep throughout the event - including when fighting back from 5-2 down to beat Daniel Wells in Saturday's semi-final.
Yet if a resurgent Murphy were hoping to catch his man cold, an opening 110 break from Allen confirmed that he's determined to secure immediate compensation having bumped into a sensational Ronnie O'Sullivan in the UK Championship.
It was Murphy who had to keep tabs on his man in the early stages, twice levelling having gone behind, before the former world champion took a scrappy fifth frame.
Allen conjured a break of 82 to level and, after a mistake from Murphy, moved back in front with a run of 64 before a clinical 70 break in the final frame of the session at last established daylight in the best-of-17 encounter.
Play resumes at 1900 GMT.
