Wilson, the only seed left in the tournament, came from 3-2 and 4-3 down to go in level after the first session in Sheffield. But Jones produced an even braver comeback against the 2015 champion, recovering after a nervy and error-strewn start to turn a 3-0 deficit into parity by the end of the evening.

The best of 33 contests resume on Friday with everything to play for.

Fantastic from Gilbert, especially considering his miss in the last frame. It’s a century break!

His second of the match and eighth for the tournament so far. The Englishman cleans up the whole table for a break of 129 in what was the perfect response, and perfect end, to this half of the session.

Still nothing to split them.

By the time he cleans up the loose reds Gilbert’s break is up to 44. Now he needs to open up the rest of them but isn’t in a hurry.

There’s one available to the middle left which he nestles nicely into the pocket and leaves a clear shot on the pink. As the cueball spins back into position two or three reds come loose and that should be that for this frame.

It’s Gilbert’s to lose now.

Oh lovely! A tight angle on the only available red for David Gilbert doesn’t worry him and he slots it into the middle left pocket to get on the board first.

He’ll have the opportunity to build a break now.

A good break from Wilson forces Gilbert to play safe with his follow up shot. He’ll be hoping for another chance to score first in this frame.

Already there are two loose reds up by the three baulk colours which could make safety shots interesting.

Much like the match, that frame swung both ways but it was claimed by Kyren Wilson thanks to some fine safety shots and a long pot on the yellow.

There’s one frame left to play before the mid-session break. Who’s going to take it?

Lovely! Wilson screws off the brown, watches it drop and is perfectly positioned on the blue. That goes in too and when the pink finishes in the bottom right pocket the frame is his!

There’s no good safety shot for Gilbert so he takes on the pot and misses. Wilson rolls in the yellow with a comfortable long pot and leaves himself on for the green.

The brown is up by the baulk cushion though which won’t be easy to pot and position for the blue.

David Gilbert is on the back foot after a couple of handy safety shots from Kyren Wilson who is thinking about trying to cut the yellow into the middle right.

It doesn’t go but he manages to leave the cueball on the top cushion with only a tight angle for the yellow to drop. Gilbert looks as though he’s pondering another safety shot.