Jimmy White had double reason for celebration after reaching the semi-finals of the Daily Record Players Championship in Glasgow today.
The `Whirlwind' breezed through to the last four of a major tournament for the fourth time this season with a 5-3 victory over Preston's Ian McCulloch. And White is now guaranteed to remain as part of the game's elite top 16 ranked players for another season.
"I've become tired mentally because I've got too involved in thinking about the rankings, but now I've got to where I want to be I can chill out a bit," said White, who turns 42 next month.
"It's a magic feeling to be going to the world championship without having to think about the top 16 for the first time in about 10 years."
At 4-2, White looked set to complete a comfortable victory, but he missed a long pink and McCulloch potted it before adding the black. But White - runner-up in last month's European Open and a semi-finalist in both the UK Championship and Masters this season - produced a 57 clearance to the pink to win the eighth frame after McCulloch had broken down on 49.
"I got dragged into playing too slowly and that didn't do me much good," added White. "It wasn't a great match, but I'm happy to get through."
White faces Peter Ebdon in the semi-finals after the 2002 world champion maintained his recent resurgence to knock out reigning world champion Mark Williams 5-3. Ebdon, who ended a two year title drought at the Irish Masters last month, made breaks of 40, 52, 64 and 59 to lead 3-1 at the interval and despite twice closing to within a single frame, Williams could not get back on level terms.
The Welshman's case was not helped by the conditions as his efforts to get going were hampered by a series of kicks and some strange bounces off the cushions.
"Peter wasn't great, but he was good at everything and when he's playing well he's a tough player to beat," said Williams, who begins the defence of his world title in a week's time.
"I had five or six of the biggest kicks I've ever had and some bad bounces, but I stuck in there and I think I was a bit unlucky not to make it 4-4."
Ebdon, the seventh seed, is now poised to become only the 10th player in snooker history to win back-to-back ranking titles. "It was a very scrappy match," he admitted.
"Mark had a lot of bad kicks and that can drain your confidence. In the end, I had more chances than I would have expected. I've played better this season and lost, but I'm delighted to win and I seem to be hitting form at the right time."