Stephen Maguire refused to accept defeat as he clawed his way back to take Friday evening's final three frames against Ali Carter.

With a possible nine frames remaining in their semi-final at the Crucible, England's Carter leads the Scotsman 14-10 after splitting the third session.

Trailing 10-6, Maguire won the opener but was powerless as Carter blasted a century and breaks of 73 and 53.

Maguire dug deep to pull two back before dramatically snatching the last.

The match concludes on Saturday at 1430 BST and the victor will likely meet Ronnie O'Sullivan, who leads Matthew Stevens 11-5, in the final.

Maguire made the ideal start to the penultimate session, claiming the first frame to reduce his arrears to three frames.

But Carter was showing grit and opened up a four-frame lead again by taking a marathon 18th frame.

There was no grittiness about the next though as "The Captain" stroked in a majestic 134 clearance, and was now playing like a man who had the confidence to reach his second world final.

Carter surged 13-7 ahead and it must have seemed a long way back for Maguire from there.

The Scot looked despondent in his chair, seeing his opponent rack up another with a knock of 73, but he clawed in to win the 22nd frame.

Maguire took the next too with a break of 70, and edged the final frame of the session to leave an intriguing finish.