Peter Ebdon had double cause for celebration in Sheffield last night, reaching the last 16 of the Embassy World Championship by beating Ulster's Terry Murphy 10-3 and becoming a father for a third time.
Ebdon's baby was born as the Englishman was about to resume the match 6-3 ahead and afterwards the delighted player said: "The baby wasn't expected until next week. I'm still on cloud nine and I guess I'll be up there for a couple of weeks."
Ebdon, a runner-up to Stephen Hendry in the 1996 world final, played some of his best snooker of the season to reach the last 16. He twice made century breaks and also added runs of 47, 45, 82, 99 and 76. Ebdon meets Dubliner Fergal O'Brien, starting on Saturday, for a place in the quarterfinals.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, meanwhile, made a low-key start to his campaign on the adjoining table last night. He restarts tomorrow afternoon with a 6-3 advantage over Ulster's Joe Swail.
O'Sullivan began by taking five reds and blacks, reviving memories of last year's fastest ever 147 maximum break. That was as far as he got, but he later added 52 to go 1-0 up. Swail scored only 27 points in the next three frames, and a massacre seemed on the cards.
To his credit Swail, the world number 22, managed to win three of the next five frames to stand half a chance of overturning his deficit.
Earlier Nigel Bond, who began his 1997-98 snooker season with a bang by winning the Scottish Masters title last October in Motherwell, saw his campaign end with hardly a whimper as he lost 10-5 to Essex left-hander Mark King. World number eight Bond lost eight frames out of a possible nine after establishing a 4-2 advantage in Monday night's opening session.
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