JOE SWAIL came from 4-1 down to beat world number eight Alan McManus 5-4 and reach the semi-finals of the £400,000 British Open in Plymouth yesterday.

Ulsterman Swail, who now plays Peter Ebdon in the semi-finals, made breaks of 74, 93 and 53 to complete a gutsy recovery, limiting McManus to only 48 points in the last four frames.

Swail said: "At 4-1 down I thought I should give it a go and attack a bit more and it worked out. In the four frames I lost, I only missed two balls so I wasn't disappointed to be 4-1 down. The pressure was on Alan in the last frame." Stephen Hendry made it business as usual when he defeated Stephen Lee 5-2, setting up a mouth-watering match against Ronnie O'Sullivan. Hendry was emphatically back to his best and made a succession of big breaks.

O'Sullivan beat former world champion John Higgins 5-1.