IN FIVE frames covering 97 minutes of competitive snooker yesterday, Jimmy White's highest break was 25. It was, therefore, something of an achievement for the 33 year old Londoner, twice a former champion at Goffs, to be beaten only 6-3 by Ken Doherty in the first round of the £190,000 Benson and Hedges Masters.
Doherty wanted desperately to believe afterwards that his boyhood idol will once again grace the green baize with distinction. Like the rest of us, the Irishman clearly took no pleasure in watching a once great player struggle vainly to regain past glories. It is as if the cumulative effect of six final defeats in the World Championship has eventually crushed his spirit.
"I'm hitting the ball great, but I couldn't string any big breaks together," said White, whose only previous first round defeat at Goffs was 12 years ago, to his friend, Tony Meo. "It seems that everyone these days is in confident form when they come up against me. I need a few results."
From a position of seventh in the world at the start of this season, White has now dropped alarmingly to a provisional 17th, with the World Championship at the Crucible only a month away. Yet, when Doherty embarked on a professional career back in the 1990-'91 season, he was so much in awe of the Londoner as to be almost afraid to share the same table with him.
The Dubliner lost their first two meetings and it was 1993, at the Skoda Grand Prix, before he gained his first victory over White. Even after this latest clash, the Londoner retains the advantage with five wins to Doherty's three.
Elements of yesterday's match were reminiscent of the later appearances here by Alex Higgins when the decibel level was heightened to no significant effect. Indeed, it might have been a struggling Higgins standing there bewildered during the seventh frame as a lone voice exhorted "c'mon Jim". By way of response, White could do no more than stretch out his right hand and look towards the source of the voice as much as to say: What can I do?
White's position had improved considerably by that stage. Battling to avoid a whitewash, he had a sparkling break of 92, including 11 blacks, to close the gap to 5-1. He also won the next, largely through a break of 44.
It was then Doherty's turn to be concerned when White maintained the momentum, albeit scrappily, to bring the match score to a most improbable 5-3. Indeed, in keeping with his rather untidy play throughout, he was called for his eighth miss of the match in the eighth frame. Three of those had been successive fouls, in the fifth, suggesting a decidedly suspect cueing action.
Instead of gaining the most comfortable of wins, Doherty wad now confronted with the possibility of an embarrassing defeat on home soil. "The way Jimmy had been coming back at me, I was delighted to get the one chance I needed to take the match," he said afterwards. "I sort of fell over the finishing line."
It was solid application rather than spectacle which saw Doherty through. Modest breaks of 32 and 42 were sufficient to close out an opponent who, only a few years ago, was one of the most dangerous players in the game. Has the Whirlwind blown itself out? "I can't believe that," said Doherty. "You don't just stop being a great player because of a run of poor results. Jimmy will be back."
Doherty will be in action against Stephen Hen dry tomorrow night in a repeat of last year's quarter final clash in which the world number one was victorious by five frames to four. Since then, however, the Dubliner has had the satisfaction of reversing that result in meetings in the European Open and the Thailand Open this season.
Later in the day, James Wattana produced one of his best performances in an otherwise bleak season when beating the highly rated John Higgins by 6.4. Given the Scot's status as provisional world number two, Wattana, who was 5 to 2 against for the match, effectively created the biggest upset of the tournament so far.
The mercurial Thai is now in the quarter finals for a fourth successive year and will meet Steve Davis tomorrow afternoon. Further progress, however, could land Wattana in some difficulties, particularly if he happened to go through to the final on Sunday.
Through an unfortunate mix up, the British Open is starting in Plymouth, with preliminary matches on Saturday Wattana is due to play a first round match at 8.0 p.m. on Monday night. In view of the difficulty of getting from Dublin to Plymouth, he would certainly be faced with problems if he got to the final.
After fighting back to draw level at 2-2 by the mid session interval, he looked to be in trouble again when Higgins had a break of 76 in the seventh to regain the lead at 4-3. Wattana took control of the match, however, winning the next three frames for the concession of only 44 points.
"I'm tired after a lot of travelling lately, but I am also really pleased to have won against a player of John's talent."
Wattana, whose poor form has pushed him from sixth out to 11th in the provisional rankings.
Higgins, looking remarkably composed for a player of his tender years, took a little time to settle down on his Goffs debut. But, gradually, we began to see flashes of the brilliance which have made the 20 year old Scot the most exciting young talent in the game, comparable in skill and potential to Hendry at the same age.
A clearance of 70 from the sixth last red gave him the second frame and his finishing was similarly impressive in the next. But he really hurt Wattana when a brilliant clearance of 64 from the sixth last red secured him the sixth frame to level at 3.3. However, Wattana stuck to his task, sensing the vulnerability of his opponent. With solidly crafted small breaks, he did what was necessary to secure a deserved win.
