Sport

Doherty's fightback cuts the deficit Snooker

SNOOKER: Ken Doherty will go into today's final session at the World Championships in Sheffield trailing Scotland's Graeme Dott…

Mon Apr 28 2003 - 01:00

SNOOKER: Ken Doherty will go into today's final session at the World Championships in Sheffield trailing Scotland's Graeme Dott 9-7.

Doherty staged a great recovery after starting yesterday's second session 6-2 down but after getting back to level terms at 7-7 he lost the last two frames.

Paul Hunter, an authentic title contender for the first time this year, and Mark Williams, the 2000 champion, obtained commanding 6-2 leads in contrasting ways to carry into their middle sessions yesterday morning as they moved towards quarter-final places.

Breaks of 55, 50, 110 and a clinching 45 saw Hunter lead 4-1. A run of 84 from Stevens accounted for the next frame and with 61 he was poised to close to only one behind before Hunter cleared with 69, crucially fluking the pink to go 5-2 ahead.

READ MORE

This was converted to 6-2 with runs of 54 and 58 in their remaining frame.

Williams, the UK and Masters champion, was unimpressive in dropping the first two frames to Quinten Hann, a talented but unpredictable Australian who was unable to get out of first gear all afternoon.

Some incredibly easy balls were missed on both sides, most notably a tiddler of a red at short range that let Williams in for 81 and 5-2, converted to 6-2 largely through his break of 60.

For Jimmy White, April again proved the cruellest month. Leading Stephen Lee 10-7, he appeared a likely quarter-finalist but was beaten 13-11 on Saturday evening. "I couldn't score. If I got 40 it was a result," said White. "I'm disappointed but what can you do? I didn't feel I was in the game until it was 10-10.

"Then the pressure was on him. I didn't play anything special. I just ground out a result. I missed some silly balls."

John Higgins made two centuries and 12 more half-centuries in completing his 13-8 over Sean Storey, whose performances here have helped him rise from 82nd to 51st in this season's rankings.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

(Sheffield) Second round (best of 25 frames)

Graeme Dott (Sco) leads Ken Doherty (Irl) 9-7. Frame scores (Dott first): 61-27 59-25 59-36 60-72 96-7 98-0 80-0 23-68 59-8 10-76 0-92 55-56 0-84 32-69 72-50 80-18. Match resumes today 2.30pm

Mark Williams (Wal) leads Quinten Hann (Aus) 6-2 Frame scores (Williams 1st): 34-67 50-58 71-28 74-11 71-5 64-52 81-6 78-33 Match resumes 10am today.

Paul Hunter (Eng) leads Matthew Stevens (Wal) 6-2 Frame scores (Hunter 1st) 59-68 82-1 81-15 110-0 78-34 0-84 74-61 112-17 Match resumes today 10am.