Veteran Jimmy White caused a major upset at this year's Benson & Hedges Masters by beating world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 in the penultimate quarter-final tie. "The People's Champion" surprised the Wembley crowd with a stunning comeback to deny O'Sullivan a place in the last four of the £695,000 event. He looked to be on his way out of the competition at 5-2 down but somehow turned it around into a victory.
However, while the crowd went wild with delight at White's battling display, O'Sullivan was left seething by his defeat. "I'm angry, very angry," he said. "I have lost a match I thought I should have won. And I've lost my last two matches from being in front. It's disappointing. The wheels have come off though there is nothing wrong with my game, it's just something I have got to deal with mentally and it's not something I want to air in the press," he explained.
Although the snooker on show was hardly vintage, it wasn't short on excitement. After joining Paul Hunter and Alan McManus in the penultimate round, White admitted he was thrilled with his victory if not his performance "It certainly was a war out there. There was such hype for the game that it never took off because there was so much pressure on both of us. To be honest I couldn't tell if Ronnie was angry, I was just focused on my own game. I was getting frustrated because I wanted to win so badly. I should have been 3-1 up at the interval and then 5-2 up. Ronnie was making errors he doesn't normally do and I wasn't punishing them," he said.
White will now play either six-times Masters champion Stephen Hendry or world number one Mark Williams for a place in Sunday's final but is guaranteed at least £47,500 for reaching the semi-finals.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
