SNOOKER/World Championship:Ronnie O'Sullivan resumes today with a 6-2 lead over Neil Robertson in the best-of-25-frame contest offering a quarter-final place in the world championship, having made two centuries but relying for his other four successes largely on the high-quality tactical game which he does not always have the patience to employ.
Robertson, who beat O'Sullivan in winning October's Grand Prix in Aberdeen and February's Welsh Open, albeit in two best-of-nine sprints, was also shaken by missing an easy frame-ball blue in the third, which would have given him a 2-1 lead after his 87 had finished the opening frame and O'Sullivan's 104 had accounted for the second.
Instead, it was O'Sullivan who potted the remaining three colours to go the odd frame in front and, with the game smacking less of caviar and champagne than unpretentious roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, pressed on to 5-1.
The Australian ended his five-frame losing streak with a run of 70, but the basic brown which eluded him in the last frame of the day let O'Sullivan in for a 100 break as he secured his four-frame advantage.
Resting on their laurels until their quarter-final tomorrow were Anthony Hamilton and Stephen Maguire, 13-8 winners over Ian McCulloch and Joe Swail respectively. Unlike others who may have been deterred by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association's draconian disciplinary attitude to criticism of anything under their auspices, Hamilton lambasted the playing conditions.
"The cloth's dead and the cushions are rubbish. The cloth's unresponsive and the cushions are pinging," said Hamilton, who mastered these problems to an admirable degree in making breaks of 65, 111, 107 and 91 in pulling away from 8-8 to see off McCulloch without further loss.
Such breaks were possible only by getting in and staying close, for the unpredictable springiness of the cushions on that particular table was causing some shots to overrun by anything up to a yard.
Conditions were at their worst in the evening when John Higgins, despite his irritation, accumulated a 12-4 lead over Ireland's Fergal O'Brien. Five consecutive frames were so disjointed that they averaged half an hour apiece.
A change in temperature - it has been 24 degrees in the arena - can often affect tables, but cannot entirely explain the way in which springy bounces have become prevalent in recent seasons.
The earliest cushions, stuffed with felt or hair, served little more purpose than to stop balls falling on the floor. Rubber was introduced in 1835, but was too responsive to temperature until a vulcanising process was developed. The first set of cushions incorporating this improvement was presented to Queen Victoria in 1845 and, until recently, there has been no serious problem of this nature at championship level.
There was improvement yesterday through a new cloth being fitted, but O'Sullivan and Robertson still gave the cushions some questioning look as did Ali Carter, who leads former champion Stephen Hendry 12-4.
... Guardian Service
