Some start from Judd Trump who thumps in a long red and follows it up with a straight mid-distance blue.

Cannon goes wrong off the next red though, so the break ends on seven.

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport at York Barbican

Should Mark Selby triumph this evening it will lift him from a provisional 11th in the world rankings to sixth and almost certainly install him as favourite for the Masters.

Judd Trump will retain his number one spot but if he changes cue as expected he will only have a few weeks for it to bed in prior to action getting under way at Alexandra Palace.

Will that be enough time? How long is a piece of string?

John Parrott
1991 world champion on BBC Two

Judd Trump is used to handing those sort of scorelines out to other people - he had a chance in the fourth frame which he should've won.

You're sitting here at 5-0 thinking 'how is this going to change?' - if it's going to change he can't afford to miss any easy balls

I'm hoping he comes out all guns blazing and he slightly changes the narrative for everybody who's paid their hard-earned money.

It was down as a cracker and it may well still be one.

Here come the players out into the Barbican arena.

Mark Selby out first to the sounds of Kasabian, the famed band from his own hometown.

Judd Trump follows to an arguably even bigger ovation - the York crowd want to see a fightback!

Mark Selby's path to the final has been pretty serene - and after this afternoon's session, you could say he's on course to cruise to the title.

Judd Trump has had things a tad harder in York - but not as hard as he had things earlier on in the opening session.

Steve Davis
Six-time world champion on BBC Two

I think it was a surprise the early part of the session was so one-sided - Mark Selby was in predator mode.

Judd could have won all three of the final frames of the session but had to settle for two.

Judd has to up his game without too many risks - and that's tough.

Image source, BBC Sport

Hey folks.

It wouldn't be a BBC Sport live text without your input and interaction so please get in touch throughout the evening.

Today's finalists are two of the modern greats but who would rank higher in your all-time list?

Judd Trump has more ranking titles than the 'Jester' - but Selby has won more 'big ones' i.e Triple Crowns, so who edges it for you?

Selby is more than edging it on the baize so far today, of course...

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Selby established a 6-2 lead over defending champion Judd Trump as he dominated the opening session of the UK Championship final in York.

Selby, a two-time winner who is appearing in the final of one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events for the 15th time, produced an almost flawless display of snooker over the first five frames.

Having made a 77 clearance from the most unlikely of situations to pinch the first frame from Trump, he took the second after winning a tactical battle on the yellow and compiled a break of 97 to go 3-0 up.

When world number one Trump, missed a red to the right middle while 68 points ahead, fellow Englishman Selby again stepped up to ruthlessly punish him by clearing the table with a 70.

By the time Selby took the fifth frame, he had remarkably won 10 on the trot against Trump - going back to their Champion of Champions final in November.

Yet, despite cutting a frustrated figure, Trump rallied to reduce his arrears with runs of 74 and 75 before Selby underlined his dominance by taking the final frame of the afternoon session.

Read Steve Sutcliffe's full report from the Barbican here.

BBC Two

There are several ways you can watch tonight's conclusion to the UK Championship final.

There will be live, uninterrupted coverage of every shot on BBC Two from 19:00 GMT with Hazel Irvine and co.

You can also tune in on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport app and, of course, right here on the BBC Sport website by clicking the 'play' icon at the top of the page.

The crowd is back in the Barbican, with Judd Trump and Mark Selby getting ready to emerge for tonight's final session.

And we're back too - with our live text coverage bringing you the best of the action until the trophy is lifted.

So, let's begin with a recap of this afternoon's opening session - which went very much the way of Selby...

Image source, PA Media

Well, that was a session of snooker that had it all. Sublime, ridiculous and everything in between.

Centuries, clearances, mistakes and misses. Drama by the pocket-load.

And at the end of it, Mark Selby is four frames away from his third UK Championship title.

Will he see it through or will Judd Trump mount a momentous fightback? Join us back here at around 18:55 GMT to find out.

Stephen Hendry
Seven-time world champion on BBC One

When he was world number one for all those years he played brilliantly, but I don't remember him being as clinical with his scoring and cue ball control.

That was pretty much as good as you can play in those first five frames.

Mark Selby has been playing like this for the past three or four weeks so I did expect high quality - then the way the first frame started I thought it was going to be a war of attrition.

But then that break that Mark Selby made in the first frame was the catalyst to his play, because that was just an outstanding break, probably the best break of the whole tournament, and that gave him the inspiration and confidence to go on from there.

Steve Davis
Six-time world champion on BBC One

5-3 would have been worrying for Selby but he will go back and those scars won't be there.

It was an unusual session of snooker but he got the better of it.

Stephen Hendry
Seven-time world champion on BBC One

I wonder whether that's his chance to win this final gone with that black off the spot.

I wouldn't like to try to come back the way Mark Selby is playing - 6-2 behind, he's got to beat him 8-3 tonight. That would have to be some performance.

If you're setting out to a 19-frame final, what's your target for the first session? If you can get it, 6-2, 7-1 would be a bonus but pretty unrealistic.

Steve Sutcliffe
BBC Sport at York Barbican

Judd Trump is going to have to win eight of the 11 frames available this evening. How realistic is that against a Mark Selby, who appears somewhere close to his best?

Steve Davis
Six-time world champion on BBC One

He had done all the hard work with a superb snooker that Mark Selby struggled to get out of - and then all of a sudden what happened?

Two greens he'll want to forget.

It was an astonishing end to the session. The disgust with which Judd gave in at the end, what a way to lose what was a potential resurrection.

John Parrott
1991 world champion on BBC One

Judd knows he had a chance there and Mark Selby will be over the moon with that frame.

Oh my goodness what have we just witnessed?

Judd Trump plays potentially the worst positional shot of his life in potting the free ball - a green over the pocket.

He leaves the cue ball right in the jaws - and the whole arena is stunned.

With no easy pot on, he opts to try for another snooker behind the green - but doesn't hit it hard enough, fails to reach it and fouls.

He swipes the ball with his cue in disgust and concession - and Mark Selby leads this UK Championship final 6-2 going into tonight's second session.

Hold on a minute, this frame is not over.

Judd Trump has Mark Selby in a positively nasty snooker behind the brown with the final red right next to the black.

Selby misses - and leaves a free ball. Trump can now win the frame!

The penultimate red wobbles in the jaws of the green pocket and stays out - so Judd Trump will play on, 50 behind with 43 points on, thus needing two snookers.

He lays a snooker behind the black - but Selby superbly comes off two cushions to clip one of the two remaining reds.