Swail makes amazing fightback

Northern Ireland's Joe Swail proved he is the comeback king, producing an amazing turnaround in his second round tie with defending champion Mark Williams at the Embassy World Championships and firing the tournament's highest break so far. The Ulsterman looked to be heading for an early exit when Williams took a 10-6 lead at the end of yesterday's session but instead, he remains on course for snooker's most prestigious title and a £20,000 prize for the highest break to boot.

During the first half of this morning's session, Swail and Williams exchanged frames to leave it at 11-7 before Swail won the next two to reduce his deficit to just two frames. After the mid-session interval, he continued where he left off, and made his magnificent break of 140 to give him the boost he needed to fightback against the top seed. Now, trailing by just one frame, Swail was suddenly in command. The excitement continued when the Ulsterman leveled matters with a break of 58 and it looked as if the player who was trailing 8-3 yesterday was now on his way to victory.

However, Williams wasn't finished just yet and he added to the excitement by taking the next frame with an admirable break of 71 under massive pressure when Swail missed an easy red to leave him needing just one more frame to progress to the quarter-finals. But Swail's repuatation as a fighter is well known in the game and if Williams wasn't sure about it, he is now, as the Ulsterman made yet another excellent break, this time a 91, to level the match once more at 12-12 with just one frame left to decide who would go through.

Although the money was probably on the world champion to maintain composure under the pressure of deciding frame, it was Swail who took control immediately. When Williams could only make 11 before allowing Swail in, the Ulsterman took his chance. With a series of excellent pots, he put together a break of 58 to secure victory and a place in the last eight against either Mark King or Dungannon's Patrick Wallace.

"I can't keep doing this - it's not good for the old ticker," said an elated Swail afterwards. "I don't know what it is - I just seem to get psyched up and get the incentive when I'm behind. It's not just here, I've done it all my life. My concentration was terrible in the first two sessions. I was all over the place, and Mark wasn't much better. We were both struggling and dragging each other down."

"Another difference was that I changed my cue tip last night to one I had been using before the tournament which I had removed because I didn't think it would last all the way through. It must have worked because I played absolutely brilliantly today," he explained.

It was a very disappointing day for the reigning champion who looked devastated afterwards. "Joe deserved to win and I threw away a couple of frames," he shrugged. "He didn't give me many chances today, although I had a chance in the last frame and managed to make a mind-boggling 11. I wish I knew why I'm playing so badly. Maybe I'm trying too hard."

Filed by Amanda Fennelly