Detail Reports
| Stuart Bingham (Eng) | 9-13 | Jimmy White (Eng) |
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1st session: 132-8 (132), 59-80 (55 Bingham), 69-53, 64-57 (50 White), 41-66, 60-31, 0-72, 14-80 (80) 2nd session: 29-56, 5-67 (54), 20-65, 17-74 (52), 0-70 (56), 3-60, 74-0 (73), 14-67 3rd session: 11-83, 78-8, 75-40 (68), 61-49, 70-50 (70), 0-129 (99) Crowd favourite Jimmy White reached his 15th Embassy world championship quarter-final following a 13-9 victory over Stuart Bingham. It is an unparallelled record, two more than the six-time world champion Steve Davis have done, to reach the last eight and the Londoner is delighted about it. "It's a fantastic achievement and I'm very proud of it," said the Whirlwind. Both players shared the first session with four each. But White fired up in the second session with seven wins in eight plays, gave him a 11-5 lead overnight. With only two more frames to clinch the victory, White lost four in a row in the final session but finally composed himself to a 99 break to reach the quarter-final. The world No.16 said afterwards, "I have a bit of previous for being in front and losing so I'm pleased with my performance. The thing that pleased me most is that I didn't panic." White will now faces Alan McManus or Matthew Stevens in the next round and revealed, "They are both tough opponents. "I've got until Tuesday to chill out. I'll continue on my practice routine. Whoever wins I'll be up to play them." This match was overshadowed by the incident during the first frame of the second session. A screwed up piece of chewing gum paper, flicked from the crowd towards the match table, landed on the floor some three feet behind the bottom cushion just as Bingham was attempting to pot the brown. While the game was halted for a few minutes, security officials failed to identify the offender but White left instructions with referee Eirean Williams, to eject any trouble makers. The 23-year-old, who defeat holder Stephen Hendry a week earlier, missed badly and didn't win another frame until White had won that one and five more. But he admitted while the chewing paper incident didn't influence the result in any way, it did affect his enjoyment of the game. Bingham said, "I played Jimmy determined to enjoy the match but when that happened, I didn't enjoy the second session at all. "I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye but I can't say it put me off the shot. "Jimmy told me what happened and I thought afterwards if someone can do that, what else they can do, it was a bit worrying. But when you are playing Jimmy you do have the crowd to contend with and some of their comments were a bit out of order." White, ever a sporting character, was scathing about the chewing-gum incident, added, "He's just an idiot, whoever he was. But in nearly 1000 people watching, I suppose there is always going to be one or two arseholes about. "That's what I would call whoever did this. The strange thing is no-one knew who it was when the stewards investigated." But the consolation for Bingham is that he will move up the ranking list from 92 to the top 45. | ||
| Matthew Stevens (Wal) | 13-4 | Alan McManus (Sco) |
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1st session: 72-6 (54), 96-0 (71), 61-31, 24-80, 21-85, 75-0 (75), 80-1 (51), 86-16 (85) 2nd session: 112-0 (112), 86-25 (85), 120-7 (104), 77-7, 60-62 (55 McManus), 103-0 (56), 1-96 (66), 71-17 3rd session: 71-24 World No.9 Matthew Stevens won comfortably over world No.8 Alan McManus to reach his third consecutive quarter-final in the World Championship. Stevens, who has been hot favourite to emerge from the top half of the draw since the both Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan were knocked out, led 6-2 in the first session. He ran further away in the second session 12-4 as McManus could do nothing to response. The Welshman then spent only one frame time in the final session to seal the victory and set a contest against Jimmy White in the last eight. "I scored well and I felt quite confident. Alan struggled a bit," said Stevens. "I had been preparing to play Stephen Hendry in the quarter-final, but it will be good to play Jimmy. "Jimmy has reached the final six times so it will be a good experience to play him. It will be hard with the crowd against me but I have played him before so you do get used to it a bit. "Now it's just a case of keeping on going." This match then became the worst defeat that McManus has suffered at the Crucible in the ten years he has been here. The Scot, who has not been past the second round since 1993 when he was a semi-finalist, as he had been in 1992, said afterwards, "It's strange, you come here on such a high and leave on such a low. But you have to take it on the chin." He went on to tip fellow-Scot John Higgins for the title saying, "I think John is the strongest player. It will certainly be between John and Mark Williams, although Matthew did play very well." | ||
| John Parrott (Eng) | 12-13 | Joe Swail (NI) |
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1st session: 67-69 (67 Parrott), 72-12, 8-80, 8-92, 84-23 (63), 69-61, 63-14, 62-50 2nd session: 74-8, 102-1 (102), 68-35, 4-90, 1-81 (81), 0-88 (88), 22-77 (66), 87-22 (80) 3rd session: 64-46, 14-76 (76), 76-50, 84-0 (79), 0-75 (75), 4-68, 13-76, 43-65, 1-67 Irishman Joe Swail staged an incredible recovery to reach his first ever Embassy World Championship quarter-final in his nine-year pro career. He won five frames in a row to beat 1991 world champion, John Parrott 13-12. Swail, the world No.28, had a early lead 3-1 but veteran Parrott soon back to business and dominated the middle part of the match. He almost claim the victory when he rose to a comfortable 12-8 lead. However, his stubborn opponent never gave up and digged deep to win five consecutive frames to clinch his best victory. After pulled off a stunning comeback victory, a tearful Swail dedicated it to his late mum Josephine, who died of cancer two years ago. The 30-year-old Swail, who is partially deaf, admitted, "I've never won a snooker match and started crying straight afterwards. But all through the last frame I kept thinking of mum and it made me very emotional. She was only 57 when she died. "She was always behind me, and made me realise what talent I had. Her death made me realise how serious life is. "I never dreamed I could go very far but over the last year I've been putting in the practice and it's started to pay off. It has made me realise what I have and not to throw it away." Swail was born 40 per cent deaf in both ears and is already hailed a champion by his army of diabled fans. He continued, "Doctors told my parents when I was a kid that nothing could be done about my lack of hearing, so I just got on with things. "My deafness is not a handicap and this proves you don't have to be perfect to be good at something. "People say it's a disability but sometimes it can have its advantages because in snooker you don't get distracted by people in the crowd talking. "I use my personality to overcome it," he said, during a press conference where his sense of humour gained a round of applause. Swail, watched by proud dad Billy, added, "This has to be the best win of my career. To beat a world champion like I did, I still can't believe the way I played in the last five frames." "I don't know if I'm classed as a star at home," he said modestly, "but it's nice for people there to have someone to look up to," said Swail, who captained the Northern Ireland Nations Cup team this year. It was in 1985 that the championship was last won by a player from Northern Ireland. Victory earned Swail his biggest pay day, a guaranteed �35,000 while the chance of returning to the top 16 is still open providing he wins one more match, against Dominic Dale in the quarter-final. And the No.5 seed Parrott groaned, "Some players on the circuit are a nuisance to me and Joe is one of them. Every time I face him he plays out of his skin. I have never lost a match before from the situation I was in here. "It's the same with James Wattana and I'd like to dump the pair of them on a desert island. "But all credit to Joe, I take my hat off to him. When he got going at the end he never missed a long ball, not even under pressure. At times he was on auto-pot, he was potting them off lampshades." | ||
| Dominic Dale (Wal) | 13-1 | David Gray (Eng) |
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1st session: 81-57 (52 Dale), 116-21, 103-7 (103), 100-1 (52), 77-5, 0-94 (82), 85-32, 93-0 (93) 2nd session: 100-0 (100), 62-15, 61-23, 70-1 (54), 71-22, 101-15 (101) Dominic Dale, winner of the 1997 Grand Prix, completed a stunning 13-1 victory over David Gray with a session to spare to become the first of the quarter-finalists. Gray, who sensationally beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round, failed to perform to the standards that saw him defeat the world No.4. The 29-year-old from Penarth, who led 7-1 overnight, became only the fourth player to win by such a decisive margin in the second round clash. Steve Davis (vs Mike Hallett); Neal Foulds (vs Doug Mountjoy) both in 1988, and John Parrott (vs Tony Knowles) in 1991 also won 13-1 in the second round. Three centuries, a 103, 101 and 100, helped propel Dale into his first world championship quarter-final. The delighted Welshman, who beat Peter Ebdon in the earlier round, said, "I can't really believe how well I played but to beat David 13-1 after what he did to Ronnie, then I must have played better than I thought. "I will always remember that I won with a session to spare and now I'm in the quarter-finals, I'll make sure my preparations are right, no messing about, it's down to serious business. "I've learnt a lot over the years and winning the Grand Prix helped me to learn a lot about myself. I've had a couple of lean years since then but my coach Don Newcombe, has transformed me back into the player I used to be. "I'm a lot more confident, I play quicker and I don't think I have to improve an unfathomable amount to be capable of winning this. "I'm hitting the ball very well and if I keep playing like this, someone will have to play well to beat me." Dale, currently world No.19, now face John Parrott or Joe Swail for a place in the last four. A disconsolate Gray said, "I'm surprised by own performance. I've gone from playing the best I have all season to probably the worst in the space of four days and I have no idea why. Towards the end I wanted the ground to swallow me up, it's been a nightmare. "At the end of the first session I was disgusted at the way I had played but having beaten Ronnie, I thought tomorrow's another day, I can turn things round providing I play well. "But once Dominic led 9-1, I realised I was playing just the same as I was the day before and couldn't see myself getting back into it." However, he plans to bounce back and added, "I'll be a better player next year when I'm here, if I get here." Dale added, "I hope David will look back at beating Ronnie rather than at this match." | ||
| Mark J Williams (Wal) | 13-9 | Drew Henry (Sco) |
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1st session: 0-137 (133), 65-24 (50), 67-1 (66), 33-68, 8-93 (93), 79-1 (79), 69-13 (65), 64-49 2nd session: 1-80 (80), 76-14 (57), 8-100 (52), 32-75, 91-0 (78), 74-9, 70-50 (64), 67-74 (67 Williams, Henry 贏在重置黑球) 3rd session: 83-5, 56-68, 34-81, 81-38 (56), 72-1 (72), 75-1 (75) Mark J Willimas was made to work hard by a battling Drew Henry before clinching a quarter-final place after a 13-9 win. Williams never fully found his rhythm but made enough sufficient breaks at crucial times to keep ahead of a dogged qualifier who never gave up. Williams, who led 5-3 and 9-7 in the first two session respectively, was pleased with his progress and praised his opponent and said, "I was a bit edgy at times, but overall I thought I played well. "I've played some rubbish at times this season but the two matches here have been much better." "It was a great day for the Welsh with Dominic winning earlier on. Drew pushed me all the way and played some excellent stuff. "You always expect a tough draw no matter who you play and if Drew can keep playing like that he will make the top 16 without any problem. He now face Fergal O'Brien or Stephen Lee in the quarter-final. Henry, who made a clearance of 133 in the very first frame, remarked, "I had a chance to nick the last frame before the interval and that would have made it 10-10 and I would have been in with a chance. "But I was guaranteed 29th place in the world rankings before this tournament so I don't think that will change. "Some of Mark's pots are unbelievable. The last session was scrappy but he's now number one for nothing." | ||
| Fergal O'Brien (Ire) | 13-8 | Stephen Lee (Eng) |
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1st session: 22-71 (71), 86-44 (86), 65-39, 61-25, 11-94 (71), 32-69, 64-62, 62-36 2nd session: 72-32 (54), 0-126 (126), 69-63 (69, 63), 71-0, 85-59, 101-16 (63), 63-10, 26-59 3rd session: 62-24, 50-75, 0-102 (102), 0-98 (91), 67-15 Fergal O'Brien, the former British Open champion, defeated Stephen Lee 13-8 to reach the last eight. The world No.11 opened a small lead of 5-3 overnight, but the turning point came in the second session as O'Brien won six of the eight frames to lead an out-of-sorts Lee 11-5. But Lee, world No.6, did try to fight back in the last session, but time is running out as O'Brien close the door in the 22nd frame. It earned the Irishman a place in the Crucible quarter-finals for the first time. His other quarter-final this season was in the Regal Welsh, losing 5-2 to Peter Ebdon. O'Brien now faces Mark J Williams. O'Brien said, "You've got to be patient and I didn't want to see it slipping away when Stephen narrowed the gap from 12-5 to 12-8. "Winning any match here is going to test you and the pressure keeps building when you get anxious to win. "I have never beaten him before so to get one back at the fifth attempt, is great, especially as it's the World Championship. "I haven't been playing badly but Stephen is probably the highest-ranked player I have beaten this season." | ||
| Ken Doherty (Ire) | 12-13 | Anthony Hamilton (Eng) |
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1st session: 66-58 (58, 50), 0-87, 77-22 (66), 13-56 (54),
114-7 (106), 104-0 (104), 79-4 (60), 52-59 (59) 2nd session: 0-66, 0-89 (89), 24-70 (55), 13-93, 78-16, 120-4 (118), 36-63, 36-72 (69) 3rd session: 58-44, 56-81, 21-80 (79), 57-8, 83-38, 66-7, 81-50 4th session: 44-53, 19-71 (66) World No.10 Anthony Hamilton knocked out 1997 world champion Ken Doherty to reach his first quarter-final of the Embassy World Championship after this gruelling nine hours and 26 minutes marathon contest. They exchanged the lead in the first two session in two days where Doherty took the early 5-3 lead and Hamilton led 9-7 respectively. In the third session, Hamilton first moved to 11-8 but soon found his lead disappeared when Ken Doherty took the lead 12-11. But the time came to the rescue for Hamilton as they were running out of time. After the match resumed in the evening, Hamilton turned the table round and took the two remaining frames for the victory. The 28-year-old Hamilton, whose best ranking tournament was the runner-up in last year's British Open, said after this thrilling match, "At 12-11 down I was gone. The break came at the right time for me and the wrong time for Ken. "This was probably the hardest victory I've ever had. He old-manned me even though we are the same age. Ken stitched me up all the way through. "I'm not thinking about being world champion, there's still a long way to go but you never know." He will face either Steve Davis or John Higgins for a place in the semi-finals. An exhausted Doherty, who last lost in the second round in 1996, said, "There was a lot of pressure, and there was more graft than decent snooker in the last session. "It was a hard slog. It's disappointing because the whole tournament is wide open. "I was delighted to win a ranking tournament this season (the Malta Grand Prix), but the world championship is the most important. If you have a bad world championship, you've had a bad season." | ||
| Steve Davis (Eng) | 11-13 | John Higgins (Sco) |
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1st session: 55-66 (64), 62-22 (51), 68-17, 30-64, 6-78, 0-141 (141), 1-67 (67), 25-75 2nd session: 73-39, 114-24 (78), 53-66 (66), 64-2, 0-131 (127), 0-127 (71), 0-129 (129), 97-15 (52) 3rd session: 72-12, 68-16, 63-37, 0-137 (54, 69), 40-99 (66), 123-0 (71), 81-0 (73), 13-81 1998 champion John Higgins has beaten six-times champion Steve Davis 13-11 in the second round of the Embassy World Championship. Despite leading 6-2 and 10-6 in the first two sessions, the Scot had a hard challenge from the veteran who once closed the gap to 12-11 in the final stage. But Higgins, in his last week as official world No.1, held the nerve and clinched place for the quarter-final contest with Anthony Hamilton. A relieved Higgins said afterwards, "I don't want too many matches like this, but it was a good match to be involved in. "Steve played superbly, I haven't seen him play to this standard for some time. "He's still a great player and I'm just delighted to have won because he's looking strong when he got to 12-11. "I made a lot of big breaks but he kept coming back at me. He is certainly capable of doing it and it shows the love he still has for the game. "Let's say he frightened me a bit out there and I could see he was enjoying the game though I don't think I'll still be playing when I reach his age. "I wouldn't have liked to play him in the mid-80s neither." Higgins showed his scoring ability early on in the match. He compiled a 141 total clearance in frame six, which is the joint-highest break of the tournament so far. Together with his 141 in the first round, so as Joe Swail, the Scot will take a two-thirds share of the bonus prize if the total is not bettered. Besides, Higgins compiled successive breaks of 127, 71 and 129 as Davis failed to pot a ball in the 13th, 14th and 15th frames. The points aggregate of 387 without reply is the second highest at the Crucible and sixth on the all-time list. Davis, who pushed Higgins all the way to the end, said, "I nearly had him. If I'd got to 12-12 it would have been interesting to see the outcome. "But John is a great player and played marvellously well when he had to. "I really enjoyed the match and I'm pleased with the way I played. I felt at home here again and found some self-belief, which has been lacking." Davis lamented that his form had arrived at the end of the season, "If I'd played the way I did tonight all season, I'd have been delighted. Relative to that, the rest of the season has been rubbish," he added. | ||
