White sees it all slip away

AFTER the last couple of seasons that he's had, Jimmy White is always trying to look on the bright side these days. Cornered by the television people after a match that had those with seats at a packed Goffs last night on the edge of them, he pointed to this performance as an indicator that he is still on the comeback trail.

This morning, though, he will have more time to reflect on a 6-5 defeat at the hands of Stephen. Hendry that could so easily have been a precious victory and the confirmation he longs for that he still has what it takes to beat the world's best.

From early on in this Irish Masters quarter final there hadn't been too much to separate them, with Hendry picking up the first three frames on the trot but hardly playing his old adversary off the table. Time and again White sent wildly struck reds flying round the cushions, but the world champion, normally so ruthless when presented with such generosity, could manage nothing more awesome than a sprinkling of 20 odd breaks before the interval.

A more convincing showing back then and it might have been a different night's work for the world number one. But after offering White a glimmer of hope in the fourth, when he first benefitted from a foul and then committed a couple of them himself, Hendry's confidence seemed to go close to collapsing completely.

As the next three frames slipped away Hendry, who hadn't lost to the 34 year old in a major event since 1991, appeared to drag himself around the table, repeatedly resting his head in hands with a look of despair and clearly wishing the night to be over.

From a 3-0 lead he slumped to 4-3 behind, and when the decline was finally arrested it had, in truth, very little to do with an upturn in his performance.

In the eighth, White survived a couple of slip ups to lead 47-4, but when he crashed into the pack after missing what had looked to be a reckless, long red, he was finally punished for his complacency; Hendry put together a 74 point clearance, the best of the match up to that point, to draw level.

A terrible safety shot by the world champion on the last red in the ninth restored his opponent's advantage, but, having been let off the hook by White, who passed up the chance to clinch victory in the next with just pink and black remaining Hendry showed his nerve in the decider with a break of 127 started, almost inevitably, by yet another error.

"I'm lucky to be still be in the event because I thought I was dead and buried in the 10th when Jimmy had a great chance to win it," said Hendry. "I missed a pink that you could pot with your eyes closed, but fortunately Jimmy missed it too and left it on over the pocket."

If the tournament organisers will be disappointed to have lost the pulling power of White, then they will at least take some consolation that Ronnie O'Sullivan, the most exciting player of the younger generation, survived a mid afternoon scare in his quarter final with John Higgins.

The Scotsman, ranked two in the world, reckons that, with just the European Open title to his credit, he has had the sort of season that he would like to forget. Yet his consistency on the ranking circuit has been such that he was, breathing down Hendry's neck for, the number one spot until last week's early exit Thailand Open.

It was his Bangkok form that was on show yesterday, though, with his flawed safety work early on allowing O'Sullivan plenty of opportunity to get in amongst the balls. The Englishman gleefully mopped up what came his way in the first three frames with breaks of 42, 40, 101 and 121 helping him to a healthy lead, before Higgins finally strung a handful off reds and blues together in the fourth to reduce the deficit.