John Higgins is showing the steel that has defined his legendary career, carving out a slender 13-11 lead over Shaun Murphy in a gripping World Championship semi-final at the Crucible Theatre. The four-time champion, who turns 51 later this month, has finally turned the tables on his own tournament narrative—having never led at the end of a session before now, he picked the perfect moment to change that statistic.

Higgins is chasing history: a spot in a record-equalling ninth final in Sheffield. And he's doing it the hard way, grinding through a match that has ebbed and flowed with the tension of a classic. After starting the day strong but being repeatedly reeled in by the 2005 champion Murphy, Higgins ended the session in style, compiling his first century of the contest to hold the edge heading into the final chapter.

The concluding session of this best-of-33 thriller begins Saturday at 14:30 BST, and the drama is far from over.

The evening session resumed with the scores locked at 8-8, and Murphy struck first with a break of 60 to edge ahead for the first time since the seventh frame. But Higgins, a master of the Crucible's unique pressure, responded immediately with runs of 44 and 55, then pinched the next frame after laying a snooker on the brown. Murphy hit back with a brilliant 82, keeping the players inseparable at the mid-session interval.

What followed was a masterclass in resilience. The duo traded frames, with Higgins crafting a 63 and Murphy answering with a superb century off the Scot's break-off shot. At 12-12, the match seemed destined for a tense decider. But Higgins found an extra gear when it mattered most, rattling off a run of 70 and then signing off for the night with a clinical 101.

Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, watching from the BBC Two studio, summed it up perfectly: "It's what John Higgins has done in every match this championship—he's got better as each match has gone on and played his best snooker near the end. He knows when the business end of these games are, and he just finds gears. That's the best John Higgins has looked in this semi-final. Since the interval, it's been breaks of 63, 70, and a century—clinical, one-frame snooker. That's what you want at this stage."

For fans of the game, this is vintage Higgins: a player who ages like fine wine, using every ounce of his experience to outthink and outplay a younger, hungry opponent. Whether you're rooting for the veteran or the underdog, this semi-final is a reminder of why snooker at the Crucible is the ultimate test of nerve and skill.