Mark Selby took a 6-2 advantage over Mark Davis going into the final session of the UK Championship semi-final.
The Leicester man opened up a 3-0 lead, knocking in a superb 121 break in the process, but Davis hit back with a 76 to revive his hopes.
Selby took the two after the mid-session interval, Davis battled back with an 80, but Selby won the final frame and needs just three more for victory and his first UK final.
The pair resume play at 19:00 GMT.
The winner will face Shaun Murphy in Sunday's showpiece, who came from 8-4 down to beat Ali Carter 9-8 in a thriller on Friday night.
Selby took the first and he knocked in a swift century in the next after Davis's misjudgement in attempting a red left his opponent around the black spot.
Worrying signs began to emerge for Davis after he missed chances to get himself on the scoreboard and saw his opponent take a 3-0 lead instead.
However, a composed 76 break allowed veteran Davis, 40, to win his first frame.
Selby won the next two after the mid-session interval, including an 81 clearance to ensure he would be ahead going into the final session.
Davis showed great determination to nick the seventh frame with a clearance of 80, but Selby won the last to put himself in a commanding position.
Mark Davis (2) 4-9 (3) Mark Selby
Mark Davis (2) 4-9 (3) Mark Selby
Mark Selby returned to number one in the world after beating Mark Davis 9-4 in the semi-final of the UK Championship in York.
Having taken a 6-2 lead into the final session, Selby made light work of his opponent to reach his first UK Championship final.
Selby never looked in danger of missing out after taking the first frame of the final session.
He will face Shaun Murphy who came back from 8-4 down to beat Ali Carter 9-8.
It sets up the first UK final between two Englishman since 1992 when Jimmy White faced John Parrott at the Guild Hall in Preston.
elby's victory means he is back to number one in the world just over a month after Judd Trump took his place by reaching the final of the International Open in China.
And if he defeats 2008 winner Murphy in his maiden appearance in snooker's second-biggest major, it will add credibility to his ranking having been top previously without winning the World or UK Championship.
"The last few matches I have started rubbish but I started better today. I still did not perform so I need to work on some things for the final," Selby told BBC Sport.
"It is a great feat to get back to world number one and it is special. I put a lot of pressure on myself when I was there before so I will just go and enjoy the match against Shaun.
"We have not played each other for a long time and there is nothing better than playing in a final like the UK.
"I have not played fantastic this week, I have ground the wins out so I need to play and score better against Shaun."
In contrast, 40-year-old Davis has been a professional for 21 years, and before this season had never reached a semi-final of a ranking event. Yet he has achieved this feat three times in 2012 with appearances at the Wuxi Classic, Australian Open and the UK.
Despite knocking out past winners John Higgins and Matthew Stevens, Davis's lack of big match experience told, misjudging shots to leave his opponent with easy openings.
The damage was done in the first session with the Leicester man knocking in breaks of 121 and 81, capitalising on errors from a nervous Davis - who did show glimpses of his battling qualities with a cool 80 clearance in the seventh frame - as Selby took a healthy 6-2 lead.
The session after the interval opened with a similar pattern as Davis missed a regulatory red and was punished as Selby's break of 64 took him closer to the winning line.
The Hastings man was not going down entirely without a battle though, pulling one back.
However Selby's composed knock of 76 after Davis's poor safety left him needing just one for the win, although Davis could afford a slight smile as he took a scrappy twelfth frame.
Murphy came back from 8-4 down in his semi-final on Friday to progress, but there was to be no repeat of this as Selby took the one he needed to go through.
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