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Welcome back. It is fair to say world number one and reigning world champion Mark Selby would not have enjoyed the afternoon session much.

Four-time Crucible champion John Higgins holds a 6-2 lead. Can he extend that advantage or are we going to witness a Selby fightback? Let's find out.

Time to get some food and get some supplies in before we come back at 19:00 BST.

Have a look at Shamoon Hafez's first session report and we will be back with you soon.

John Parrott
1991 world champion at The Crucible

On Mark Selby's performance after being put through his paces by Ding Junhui in yesterday's semi-final.

"He had to go through the ringer to get through that match. We're talking about him being the younger man at 33, as opposed to someone's who is 41 but that must have taken a lot of mental reserve out of him yesterday.

"He looks a bit jaded. He had chances in that but he wasn't quite at his best and he certainly wasn't scoring at his best."

MR.W: Lovely job Higgins, good lead 6-2 going into tonight. Giving Selby a taste of his own medicine.

Jon Gibbon: What a session for John Higgins! How will Selby respond from 6-2 down tonight? Game on!

Marky Mark‏: Jester has bit of a fight on his hands. Wizard deserves to lead 6-2 after first session of World Final.

But there is to be no great escape from Selby and Higgins will be hugely relieved that the missed red does not come back to haunt him.

World number one Selby is now four frames behind after earlier holding a 2-1 lead.

This may well feature as a shot of the tournament. Selby is faced with this...

...but puts some swerve on it, and into the pocket the red goes. Delightful. This is a very tense final frame of the session, full of top-class snooker. Higgins currently 61-33 up, Selby on the green, needing a snooker.

This shot would have made it 6-2 to Higgins. It stays out. A lifeline for Selby.

So nearly a 6-2 lead, but this potentially frame-winning red stays out. It means Higgins can only make a break of 49, to end a run of four frames where he has made at least a break of 50.

Higgins still leads 61-23 in the final frame of the session. This frame still has some life left in it, though.

A four-frame advantage or a two-frame one? Higgins is 53-23 in the lead in frame eight and could well add to Selby's misery in a minute.

Image source, PA

So into frame eight, the last frame of the afternoon session. It will be either 6-2 or 5-3 to Higgins at the end of session one.

Selby gets a chance but it comes to a dead end after he scored 23 but carelessly lost position after potting a red.

Steve Davis
Six-time world champion at The Crucible

Mark Selby had a chance and blew it. We're not used to seeing him do that and it's exciting because of that fact.

I think Higgins come into this match understandably as the underdog, just because he hasn't been there as much as Mark Selby in this area.

I think it's now wonderfully poised and I think this last frame has now taken on extra significance. 

Image source, Getty Images

The following year Davis reached another final, coming up against Yorkshireman Joe Johnson, who had never won a tournament in seven years as a professional.

A 150-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, Johnson's nerveless showing allowed him to complete a comfortable 18-12 victory - one of the sport's most unexpected triumphs.

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Christopher Leech: Don't worry I love the stats. Keep 'em coming. (Psychology joke as it is all stats!).

Thanks Christopher, appreciate it.

That is the steal of the match so far. Selby, holding a 52-1 lead, missed a red into the bottom left corner, with a thin cut and that gives Higgins a chance. He does extremely well to take it with a break of 58 to snatch it 59-54.

That must hurt. Not as much as an Anthony Joshua uppercut, but painful nevertheless.

Higgins now has a 5-2 lead and will definitely start the evening session with an advantage. His last four frames have included breaks of 141, 63, 95 and 58. Not too shabby.

Moke‏: Pointless stat about points again from #bbcsnooker, external

Well, I liked it.

For one brief moment, after more than two weeks of action, both players had gained exactly the same amount of points in the tournament.

You're welcome stat fans.

That was a bad miss...

...and another...

Selby misses a routine red, Higgins misses a black off the spot. Selby back at the table currently 41-1 up in the seventh.

John Parrott
1991 world champion at The Crucible

Talking about John Higgins earlier break of 141, which was the joint-highest break in a world final alongside Ronnie O'Sullivan's in 2012. 

"I didn't think he still had that. I watched him in the commentary box and thought for a couple of seasons he wasn't anywhere near his best, I thought his long game was struggling a little bit and he'd lost a bit of confidence because of it.

But now his long game has come back, every part of his game has come back. You know he's a wonderful competitor, he plays the right sort of shot all the time and he plays it to an incredibly high standard."

Image source, PA

Image source, PA

Widely regarded as the best match in the championship's history, the 1985 final attracted 18.5 million viewers. 

Overwhelming favourite Steve Davis - aiming to become the first player in the modern game to win three consecutive world titles - looked to be on his way to a comfortable win after taking an 8-0 lead, before Taylor began an astonishing comeback.

In the deciding 35th frame, which lasted 68 minutes, Northern Irishman Taylor potted brown, blue and pink, taking the final frame to the final black, which Davis overcut from a blind pot. 

Taylor knocked it in and produced his famous, finger-wagging, cue waving celebration.

Celebrities discuss the final frame

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