Doherty leads Judge at the Crucible
Friday, 27 April 2001 20:43Ken Doherty is winning the clash of the Dubliners in the second round of the Embassy World Championship as he leads Michael Judge 5-3. It was Judge, the player who knocked out John Parrott in the opening round, who took a surprise two-frame lead. However, Doherty showed there's no substitute for experience when he fought back to take the five consecutive frames without ever playing near his full potential.
The 1997 world champion made a break of 50 in the third frame to begin his comeback and despite making some silly errors in the fourth frame, drew level. Three further breaks of 51, 68 and 66 gave him the advantage. Judge took the final frame of the session to ensure that when this match resumes tomorrow, he will still be in contention.
Meanwhile, Ulsterman Joe Swail has a major challenge ahead tomorrow as his second round opponent Mark Williams has built up a four frame advantage at 10-6. The players were level at 3-3 at one stage but then the Welshman won the next five frames to go 8-3 up. However, Swail, noted for his fightbacks, clawed back to 8-6 before Williams took the last two frames of the session. Both these matches resume tomorrow morning at 10am.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
