Leicester's Mark Selby is hoping Bank Holiday Monday will see a glorious sporting double for his home city as he pursues Betfred World Championship snooker glory.
While Leicester City's Premier League title hopes hinge on Tottenham dropping points at Chelsea tonight, Selby has his fate in his own hands at the Crucible.
He led Ding Junhui, China's first finalist in Sheffield, by 10-7 overnight, needing eight more frames to land his second world title, two years after his first.
Ding trailed 6-0 at one stage but hit the comeback trail, recovering to close to within a single frame at one stage.
But Selby's prospects improved drastically as midnight passed and he took the crunch final two frames of the session.
A 66-minute 15th frame went Ding's way, but Selby made him almost kneel down and beg for it, playing on for snookers for an age. It completely sapped the momentum that Ding was building, and meant that a frame Selby lost could ultimately prove one of his most important in the match. Selby has been nicknamed 'the Torturer' by Ronnie O'Sullivan, not without some justification.
The roar as Ding dropped in the clinching pink in that frame came at 11.09pm. Selby looked as though he could play all night though as he established his three-frame cushion by sinking the yellow in frame 17 exactly an hour later.
In the best-of-35 contest, there is leeway for a slow start. Dennis Taylor famously won the world title in 1985 from 8-0 adrift of Steve Davis, and Ronnie O'Sullivan trailed Graeme Dott 5-0 in 2004 before hot-footing to an 18-8 victory.
For China, a Ding win would mean a breakthrough moment for the country that has taken snooker to its heart.
Ireland's Ken Doherty, Australia's Neil Robertson and Canada's Cliff Thorburn are the only players from outside Britain to have scooped snooker's premier prize in Sheffield.
Should Ding stage another fightback and lift the trophy on Monday evening, it would be a triumph that has been long in coming. He swiped three ranking titles as a teenager, including the UK Championship, but has struggled in Sheffield. Despite living in the Steel City for the last 10 years, the Crucible is a venue for which he has shown little love.
Doherty, world champion in 1997, was glad to see Ding in the final.
"I'm delighted for Ding, because it's a fantastic story," Doherty told Press Association Sport.
"He's on the cusp of greatness now if he can achieve his ultimate goal and win it."
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