DARREN MORGAN, winner of the Irish Masters title last easily beat Dubliner Fergal O'Brien in the third round of the British Open at Plymouth yesterday while Ken Doherty, a beaten semi finalist at Goffs, also went out losing to England's Ronnie, O'Sullivan 5-3.
Doherty agreed his was back in the groove. "Ronnie looked very dangerous thats' the best I have seen him play for a while he said. "He looks confident and made some great pots. I was a little unlucky not to go 2-0 up but generally have no real excuses as the better player on the night won."
O'Sullivan now meets Mark Williams tonight, the Welsh lefthander having hammered Tony, Knowles 5-0 in only 80 minutes.
But Stephen Hendry will go into the world championship in a fortnight's time still looking for his first ranking title victory of the year after being beaten by Nigel Bond yesterday.
The Scot suffered only his second defeat in 12 meetings with stable mate Bond, going down 5-4 in their third round clash.
But five times world champion Hendry remained defiant after his defeat and said "What happened here will have no bearing on events at The Crucible."
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