Selby clinched the opening frame with a break of 52 before moving 2-0 ahead, taking a marathon 48 minute frame on the black (Ben Cook writes). Dott, winner of this title in 2006, began to settle in the third frame, reducing his arrears to 2-1. He followed this up with his highest contribution of the session, an 81 making it all square at the interval.
Former Masters Champion Selby, runner-up here two years ago, went in front again in frame five, and a break of 70 was enough to make it 4-2 to the former Welsh Open Champion.Selby pulled further away in frame seven, a break of 52 giving him a 5-2 lead. A superb century followed in frame eight, a 104 break allowing the world No 4 a 6-2 advantage overnight.
The match resumes at 10am tomorrow and will be played to a conclusion at 7pm.
Mark King and Stephen Maguire ended all square after the opening session of their match but they did re-write a bit of Crucible history along the way.
The second frame entered the Crucible record books after surpassing the record for the longest frame of snooker at the venue. That was held by Graeme Dott, currently playing on the other table, and Peter Ebdon during the 2006 final, a mere 74 minutes and eight seconds. Today's new mark has seen that raised to 75 minutes.
Romford's King opened in confident style, he started with a run of 40 before having to play safe and then finished the frame by clearing the table for a break of 93.
Maguire, a semi-finalist two years ago, was first in the balls in the second frame but he ran out of position with the cue ball tucked in by the pink. After a bout of safety King put together a run of 44 before he ended up behind one of the two remaining reds, having tried to dislodge them from the side cushion.
It finally came down to the colours and Maguire took it with long pots on both the pink and black after King had missed the pink to a middle bag.
The world no 2 then made short work of the next, a top run of 56 moving him 2-1 in front.
King suffered an unfortunate bit of luck in the fourth. He potted a long red but the cue ball came off two cushions and flew straight into a top pocket. Maguire missed the pink into a middle pocket and King took the frame with a break of 41 to pull level at the mid-session interval.
The Romford potter is enjoying his third spell amongst the elite top 16 and a good run here at the Crucible will ensure he stays there for next season. Maguire is set to retain his no 2 status and following Ronnie O'Sullivan's exit yesterday the 28-year-old was installed as favourite at 4/1 by Betfred.com to lift the trophy.
The Scot missed a chance to regain the lead in the frame after the interval, he missed an easy red and King put together a clearance of 61. However the winner of four ranking events made no mistake in the next with a 79.
King moved in front in the seventh after Maguire had initially made a good start with 46, the Romford potter eventually took the frame potting blue and pink. Maguire's erratic start continued in the last frame of the session.
Having got in, he lost position and had to play safe, but later claimed it with a 33. Both players will look to step up their performance when they resume at 10am on Monday.
