Shaun Murphy produced a brilliant comeback display this afternoon to take a slender 5-4 lead against Ronnie O’Sullivan ahead of tonight’s grand finale.

Shaun Murphy. Picture by Monique Limbos

O’Sullivan dominated the opening proceedings in the Champion of Champions final winning the two first frames and looked like he would go on to record a big win.

But to his credit Murphy showed brilliant battling spirits winning the next four frames to take a surprise 4-2 lead and in doing so played some tremendous snooker. His long potting and break building was similar to the style of which the snooker world saw a couple of years ago when he thrashed Neil Robertson 10-2 to lift The Masters.

In a session which saw the momentum swing to each player on a number of occasions, O’Sullivan then responded winning the next two frames to level at 4-4.

And the most entertaining frame was the final one of the session which was edgy, dramatic and went all the way to the final black. Murphy had the first chance after potting the final pink but missed it leaving O’Sullivan a tricky but manageable pot close to the side cushion.

But O’Sullivan missed it and left it over the pocket for which Murphy didn’t miss out and left the arena with a 5-4 lead. It will be interesting to see whether that black ball drama will prove crucial later this evening.

The match resumes at 7pm with the first player to win ten frames pocketing £100,000 and the Champion of Champions trophy..