MARCO Fu will take a 5-3 lead into tonight’s final session of the German Masters final against Ali Carter.

The Hong Kong star had the better of this afternoon’s opening session and stands just four frames away from wining his second major ranking event of his career.

This year’s final got off to a sluggish and tactical start with the opening frame lasting more than 50 minutes. But it was Fu who took it with a long pot on the final pink following a safety battle.

A break of 55 saw Fu double his lead to 2-0 before Carter got off the mark winning the third frame.

The packed Tempodrom crowd were on the edge of their seats in the fourth as Fu was close to hitting a maximum 147 break. But the world number 23 missed the 14th red on his run of 104 to end his chances of completing the achievement  Nevertheless the first century break of the match gave him a 3-1 lead the mid-session interval.

Carter responded well after the restart pegging back to level terms at 3-3 after he made a break of 70 and recovered from 39-0 down to take the sixth frame.

But Fu went back ahead after he punished Carter’s early foul with a break of 83. Winning that frame ensured Fu would be at least level going into tonight’s final session.

And Fu restored a two-frame advantage winning  an edgy final frame of the session. Both players had chances to win but Carter’s missed cut on a red allowed Fu to make a significant break of 33 which put him in control. Pots on the final brown and blue forced Carter to concede.

The final resumes at 7pm (UK time) tonight.