Yan Bingtao at his best to lead reigning champion Mark Selby ahead of final session at World Championship

Yan Bingtao leads Mark Selby 9-7 after edging ahead in Saturday's morning session in a fascinating match.

The two could not be separated after Friday's session that saw them tied at 4-4, but Yan looked the sharper player on Saturday as he took advantage of an out of sorts Selby to take the first three frames of the day.

But Selby bounced with some of his very best snooker and, while Yan stopped the world number two from levelling the match, has left everything to play for ahead of the evening session when the two will play to finish.

Yan grabbed the opened after Selby snookered himself on a black and missed a long red that left the table well open for the underdog to pounce and take the lead again. Yan grabbed frame-ball black leaving Selby needing a snooker, but the defending champion never had the chance to try as Yan cleaned up for his 12th Crucible century.

And Yan looked on great form in the second frame of the day too. He took a 24-point lead before a bad angle on the black drew his break to a close, but Selby gave Yan another look with a poor safety. Yan sank another long red before missing a yellow, but Selby looked off-colour as he went in-off to hand the advantage back to Yan, already 43 points up. Another bullet long red was enough this time to send Yan on his way to a two-frame lead and a break of 40 made sure of that.

A safety exchange opened frame 11 but Yan chanced his arm at a red down the rail and landed with perfect position on the pink. But the Chinese was furious when moments later he lost position on the red, entering into a big safety battle with the world number two.

Yan strung together breaks of 33 and 22, with an extra nine for good measure to give a rusty Selby everything to do to stay in the frame at 64-0. The defending champion's safety game had let him down in the opening frames of the session, with Yan getting away with short breaks and positional mistakes. Selby sank a brilliant long red to give himself and register his first pot in 30 minutes, but a missed black off the spot all-but handed the frame and a three-frame lead to Yan.

That brilliant red gave Selby a lift in the fourth though and - after sacrificing 18 points to Yan off a snooker - the four-time champion split the pack off the yellow to finally have a look in the session. A half a century in no time looked like reducing the deficit and before long that became a marvellous clearance of 132 to reduce the deficit to just two frames.

But former Masters champion Yan responded with a run of 95, restoring his three-frame lead and putting Selby back under the cosh.

Selby had barely had a moment at the table on Friday but for his 132, but that had to change ahead of a crucial frame that could have seen Yan all but out of sight. Yan was playing fearlessly and his cue action was infallible, and he was almost out of sight at 44-0 up with a safety behind the yellow and brown. But Selby dug deep and showed his mettle while Yan's aggressive play hurt him when safeties looked a better option. Selby was snookered but won the following safety battle, snookered his opponent back and then strung together a half ton to go two behind once more.

Two became one in no time as Selby, for second time on Saturday, produced his best for a break of 132 and leave Yan with the narrowest of leads and a potential shift in momentum.

But Yan would not be intimidated by his opponent, and put together a half ton before missing a red to bottom right. Selby, however, reduced Yan's lead to just nine points with a run of 41 before losing position on the final red and going safe. An epic safety battle ensued before Yan grabbed a snooker that saw Selby sacrifice 11 points, but Selby snookered him back to and took four. At 61-45 up the frame was on a knife-edge, but Selby opted for an ambitious cut to bottom left all the same. He missed it, Yan took it, then grabbed frame-ball yellow to go 9-7 up and ensure a lead ahead of the evening's finale.

Mark Selby had demonstrated his battling abilities to remain intact on as he fought back to share the opening session of his World Championship second-round clash with Yan on Friday.

The defending champion had a tough season, both on the table and off it, but looked in no mood to surrender his crown as he did not allow Yan to get the upper hand.

It was a session that never really caught fire, with arguably the most excitement moment when a pigeon dive bombed into the Crucibie, to the amusement of players and fans alike - and gave commentators the chance to dust off a series of terrible jokes.

The scoring may not have been free-flowing, but it was certainly gripping as the match see-sawed in a manner which suggested it could go deep into the third session before the outcome is decided.

Selby made the ideal start to the match by taking the opening frame courtesy of a break of 54. He had a big chance to take the second but broke down after knocking in another half century. Yan needed a couple of bites to level, but got his reward for a delicious cut on a red to the left middle.

Yan edged himself in front with a superb break of 104, his 11th Crucible century. He got in by way of a stunning long red and produced a series of superb pots, arguably the highlight being getting from pink to black to secure the ton. The break was so good, it earned a tap of the table of appreciation from Selby as he briefly left the arena.

Match sharpness was a concern for Selby, given his lack of competitive snooker on account of the time he has missed while he battles with his mental health, and it showed in the fourth. He had two gilt-edged opportunities to go in level at the interval, but passed them up and Yan knocked in the final red and cleared the colours to open up a 3-1 advantage.

Selby took the first after the interval and was well placed to take a scrappy sixth, but he broke down and Yan pounced. He knocked in a tough final red with the rest and mopped up the colours.

In what was an attritional battle well suited to both players’ styles, Selby showed his mettle in a 30 minute seventh frame to cut the deficit to one.

Selby saved his best for last, as a break of 83 ensured he will return on Saturday all square at 4-4.

Stephen Maguire was in total command of his clash with Zhao Xintong after opening up an 11-5 lead ahead of Saturday's morning session, but Zhao didn't make life easy for the Scot.

Maguire needed just two frames to win but Zhao raced through three of the opening four to give himself an outside chance of a fightback.

The young prodigy, tipped as the most naturally gifted player since O'Sullivan by Jimmy White, was taking risks and pulling them off, and made it to the mid-session interval alive.

Another frame after the break made it 12-9 with Zhao havign reduced the deficit by half since the beginning of the day.

But it was all too little too late as Maguire finally got himself over the line to win 13-9.

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