Snooker: O'Sullivan poised to profit from slips
Your support helps us to tell the story
As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.
Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.
Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election
Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Some untimely misses from Mark Selby handed Ronnie O'Sullivan the momentum in their quarter-final tie in the UK Championship here yesterday.
Selby played his way back from the brink of defeat and into a winning position in the fifth frame, only to miss a simple blue and go 4-1 down, and then surrendered control of the eighth frame with a miss on the final brown, leaving him trailing 6-2 at the interval.
O'Sullivan, appearing calm at the table, had taken routine wins in the opening two frames before Selby finally got rolling to take the third 108-1. But O'Sullivan hit a break of 104 to win the fourth without reply.
The match then turned in the fifth frame when Selby forced a pair of errors from O'Sullivan to get back into the frame, with O'Sullivan missing a brown and handing Selby a free shot, with which he sank the black. But with the frame there for the taking, he missed a routine blue on the next shot and O'Sullivan cleaned up.
Selby recovered to take the sixth, but O'Sullivan rattled in a break of 94 to take the seventh. Needing a win to stay in touch, Selby watched O'Sullivan make a break of 43 in the final frame of the session, but an error on a red handed him his chance and he looked confident of taking it. However, he misplayed the brown and O'Sullivan potted the final three colours.
John Higgins also held a 6-2 lead over Liang Wenbo in yesterday's other quarter-final, but appeared to be in far more dominant form. He raced into a 5-0 lead, with breaks of 90 and 110 in the opening three frames. He had been on course for a 147 until being forced to settle for a blue when on 104 in the third. Liang took two of the final three frames as he finally found some rhythm, but the Chinese player faced a long road to get back into the match.
The winners of the two quarter-finals will play each other in the semis tomorrow with Stephen Maguire and Ding Junhui meeting in the first semi today.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments