The predicted title procession has not materialised and Ronnie O’Sullivan has a real fight on his hands if he is to win his fifth resumption after a high-quality battle in Sunday’s opening two sessions.

Crucible crown on Monday.

O’Sullivan leads his opponent Barry Hawkins 10-7 ahead of their

Hawkins, from Ditton, has staged remarkable comebacks over the past two weeks in making it to the final, knocking out world No.1 Mark Selby before his late night win on Saturday against Ricky Walden in the semis.

O’Sullivan by contrast has made somewhat serene progress through the draw including seeing off Judd Trump 17-11 in his last-four match up leading many to anticipate yet another title won in second gear, much like 12 months ago.

And when the Rocket raced into a 2-0 lead with breaks of 74 and 92 the writing appeared to be on the wall.

But Hawkins is made of stern stuff and he fired back with breaks of 88 and 81 to level things up at 2-2, proving to O’Sullivan that he will not be rolling over any time soon.

Indeed apart from a nervy final frame of the night that the defending champion stole on the black to take a three-frame lead the standard was quite exceptional from both players.

was quite exceptional from both playersThe standard

O’Sullivan has four centuries to his name already in the final while Hawkins had a magnificent 133 total clearance in addition to four other half centuries and remains within touching distance of his British Eurosport is the Home of Snooker, showing 19 tournaments this season including the World Championship, UK Championship, the Masters and all ranking events, available on Sky, Virgin Media & BT or online/on mobile via eurosportplayer.co.uk

illustrious opponent.