Swail through after marathon tie
Thursday, 26 April 2001 21:57Northern Ireland's Joe Swail is through to the second round of the Embassy World Championship despite being pushed all the way by debutant Sean Storey. This tie was the first to go the whole distance in the opening round at the Crucible and was a thrilling match to watch.
Swail, a semi-finalist here last year, looked comfortable at 6-3. However, in the tenth frame, the world number 99 made a break of 58 to secure the frame 79-0 and so began his fightback. Storey won six of the next seven frames to suddenly take control of the tie at 9-7. The Englishman had just one frame left to win to cause a major upset but Swail proved why experience counts for so much when he took the final three frames to steal victory.
"I'm very surprised to still be in the tournament," the Ulsterman said afterwards. "Sean outplayed me all the way up to when he led 9-7. I had to use my experience because he was running away with it so I kept things tight and tried to make the most of my chances," he added.
Swail will now play Mark Williams in the last 16 with that tie beginning later today. Williams has had a good rest since he defeated Billy Snaddon on Saturday but Swail is not concerned about his energy levels following yesterday's marathon tie.
"I'm happy to play every day. think it's great to do that. You don't want a stop-start tournament. Last year my situation was more like Mark's this year when I had about a week between my first and second matches. He's a tremendous player and the sort of guy who can blow you away at any time, but I'll go for it. And I'm feeling the pressure more now because of what I achieved last year. There's a lot more expected of me this time," he explained.
Meanwhile, Chris Small beat Marco Fu 10-8 yesterday to set up a second-round tie with John Higgins while fifth seed Stephen Lee has a 6-3 lead over Nigel Bond.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
