Ireland's Ken Doherty remains on course to claim the Embassy World Championship title, after he came through a nerve-racking match with Scotsman John Higgins to win 13-8.
In what was a thrilling match, Doherty stormed into a 10-0 lead and looked to be on his way to an easy victory, however the Dubliner then suffered a massive collapse in form and lost the next seven frames.
However, Doherty stopped the rot and his a crucial break of 63 in the 18th frame turned things around, allowing his to cruise to victory, and afterwards the triumphant Irishman said, "It would have been the biggest collapse since the Wall Street crash had I not won that game. At 10-0 I had a big smile on my face but when it was 10-6 a bear wouldn't have hugged me."
"I couldn't believe I was 10-0 up against someone like John. I was squinting at the scoreline and thinking 'this is mind boggling'. The first eight frames were probably the best I've ever played and that gave me some great confidence. I've never played that well against a top player for so long - not even when I won the title in 1997. But from 10-0 John began to nick frames that I'd been doing."
"Had it gone on I'm sure it would only have got worse and worse. The frame to go 11-7 was massive because it gave me the belief to go on and finish the job. Had John pulled it back to 10-8 I'm not sure what might have happened," Doherty added.
Meanwhile, Wales’ Mark Williams has returned to number one in snooker's world rankings after defeating Stephen Hendry 13-7 this morning. Williams became only the second player to return to number one after his clinical victory over friend and rival Stephen Hendry.
Williams' fellow Welshman Ray Reardon was the last man to achieve the feat exactly two decades ago when he took over from Canadian Cliff Thorburn. But after reaching one of his goals the 28-year-old from Cwm is now just two wins away from becoming world champion for the first time since 2000.
Stephen Lee, the world number seven, or Hong Kong's Marco Fu stands inWilliams' way as he chases snooker's triple crown. Only a small group of players have ever won the World, UK and Masters titles in the same season and Williams is favourite to join the select club.
He resumed this morning with a 10-6 lead and required only another 45 minutes to end Hendry's quest for an eighth world crown. “13-7 is a good result for me against a player like Stephen,” said Williams. “He didn't play that well to be fair and I won a few scrappy frames. In the end I did enough to win though I know I can play better. It's great to get back to number one. That's what I've been practising hard for in the last 12 months or so.”
Filed by Rob Wright
