Ebdon trailed 5-4 overnight to golden oldie Bond after his opponent reeled off five frames on the bounce having been 4-0 down.

But the Dubai-based potter hit back today in the pair’s second session, edging 9-7 ahead and within touching distance of a place in the second phase.

Identical breaks of 60 saw this year’s Maplin UK Champion win the first two frames of the afternoon for a 6-5 lead, only for 41-year-old to pocket a 60 break of his own to level matters at 6-6.

Ebdon then won a scrappy 13th frame which lasted over 40 minutes, the longest of the match, before compiling a 57 run to secure a two-frame cushion.

It went 9-6 in Ebdon’s favour after he won another scrappy frame, another one which drifted agonisingly over the half hour mark.

But former British Open winner Bond, a beaten Crucible finalist in 1995, turned on the style in the final frame of the session, pocketing his second century (104) to keep his faint hopes of progressing alive.

In the other morning session match, Dubliner Fergal O’Brien and Dartford’s Barry Hawkins were deadlocked at 4-4.

Left-hander Hawkins, a former Grand Prix semi-finalist, led 2-0, the highlight of which was a 58 break, before qualifier O’Brien reduced his arrears by pinching the third frame on points 58-57.

Hawkins won the next despite a break of 47 from O’Brien, before his opponent won the next two, pocketing a 66 break in the sixth frame to make it 3-3.

The seventh frame lasted more than half an hour, but Hawkins won it on points 79-46 by potting the final blue ball, only for Irishman O’Brien to win the final frame of the session thanks to a break of 63.

The duo should have completed nine frames, but their match was also pulled off early as organisers feared a clash with the start of Ronnie O’Sullivan against Ding Junhui and veterans Steve Davis and John Parrott.