Snooker: Jimmy White pulled off a 6-5 quarter-final victory yesterday over world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the UK Masters from the unpromising position of three down with four to play.
This was the match-up everyone wanted to see and 2,403 turned up to Wembley Conference Centre, including a clutch of marquee celebrities. These included Sam Torrance, the most able cueist on the golf circuit, and Terence Stamp, the actor, who played the game in his East-End youth.
O'Sullivan felt the pressures more keenly even though he led 3-1 and 5-2: "I'll let other people decide how I played. I was just trying really hard."
White did nothing special to close to 4-5, but his growing self-belief was evident as, from 34 behind, he made a cool 72 to level at 5-5.
O'Sullivan, in play with 42 and 30 in front in the decider, was unlucky not to leave a pot when he opened the bunch of reds but added mistake to misfortune by bungling his safety.
White made 35 from it and from O'Sullivan's over-hit safety on the last red, dispatched the remaining balls he needed for a place in tonight's semi-final.
"Ronnie usually destroys you when you give him a chance but it didn't happen for him," said White. "I'll have to play more solid against Stephen or Mark." "I love the venue but I don't really like playing in London because there is so much emphasis on me to do well," said the world champion O'Sullivan, who made a top break of only 51. It at least keeps alive White's hopes of a second Masters title 18 years after his first.
