Doherty on the verge of an unexpected early exit

Ken Doherty is on the verge of exiting the World snooker championship after he slipped to a 10-6 defecit in his second round match with Nigel Bond at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre last night. Doherty must win seven of today's remaining nine frames if he is stay in the championship.

Yesterday's performance was a big disappointment for the Irish number one, bidding to reach his third final in succession. Bond, who needs to get to the final for the first time since 1995 to protect his top 16 ranking, requires a third of the remaining nine frames to reach the quarters.

Bond finished the first session 5-3 ahead despite only one half century and runs of 83, 52 and 91 from the Dubliner. Doherty cut his deficit at the start of the penultimate session to 5-4, but that's as close as Bond's stablemate allowed him to get.

Bond reeled off three in a row to go 8-4 ahead at the mid session interval. Doherty snatched frame 13 on the black after being 57-0 behind and won the 14th on the pink. However, Bond wouldn't be denied and he allowed the 28-year-old fourth seed just eight points in the last two frames of the evening.

Mark King gave John Higgins an attack of Crucible stagefright, but could not prevent the defending champion moving inexorably towards the quarter-finals. At least the world number 16 from Romford ensured he will be back tomorrow for the third and final session of their second-round match.

Higgins resumes in this morning, denied his day off, with an impregnable 12-4 advantage. He requires only one frame to reach the last eight and stretch his unbeaten world championship record to nine matches.

However, King turned the tables on his 23-year-old rival who at the 1997 Grand Prix allowed him only 11 points in a best-of-nine frames contest. With a touch more steadiness the 25-year-old left-hander could easily have been only 9-7 behind. But in the closing three frames of the session he lost two frames on the black and another on the pink.

But he had the satisfaction of making Higgins work hard for his probable victory. Last night the defending champion produced an awesome display to capture all eight frames of the first session. He did so with two century breaks and further runs of 75, 51, 48, 62, 84 and 77.

Welshman Matthew Stevens is on course for the quarter-finals after building a 6-2 advantage over Malta's Tony Drago. The 21-year-old from Carmarthen, who will not need to qualify next season, made a half century break in all but two of the frames.

He started with 72, added runs of 79, 73, 53, 62 and finished with 60. Stevens is playing for a quarter-final against Stephen Hendry or Thailand's James Wattana.

John Parrott stuck to his task last night to edge out Chris Small 13-12. The veteran Liverpudlian outlasted his 25-year-old Scottish rival in a 10-hour 17-minurte marathon.

It was heartbreaking for small who recovered from 12-10 down to 12-all including a superb 131 clearance in the penultimate frame. However, Parrott, world champion in 1991 and an ever-present in Sheffield since 1984, ma de the decisive break of 68.

"He is a human limpet and just wouldn't let go," said Parrott who now plays Ronnie O'Sullivan or Joe Perry for a place in the last four.