Snooker: Crucible rookie Mark Allen showed no signs of nerves on his first outing at the World Championship yesterday afternoon as he opened up a 6-3 lead over Ken Doherty.
The promising Antrim-based player gave the Dubliner a torrid time in the first session of their best-of-19-frame first-round clash in Sheffield.
Breaks of 92, 95, 57 and 74 helped Allen to a three-frame cushion before the pair resume to conclude their match today.
Doherty, aiming to win this year's title 10 years after his sole previous triumph, battled back by winning three frames. But the provisional world number two was far from his best and mustered a high break of 40 in the whole match.
To add insult in injury, and with the scoreline finely poised at 5-3, Allen pinched the last frame of the session with a cool 74 break to leave himself needing four frames for a place in the next round.
The eventual winner will play Welshman Matthew Stevens but for Doherty there is still plenty of hard work to do. He is understandably keen to impress this year and also has the added incentive of trying to become world number one for the first time in his career.
Nine different players are in the running for that honour but Doherty and Scotland's John Higgins now lead the race to usurp current incumbent Stephen Hendry.
"I'm just concentrating on winning my match, but it's great for snooker that the race for number one has gone down to the last tournament of the season," said Doherty.
"It would be great to finish top of the rankings but that would be a bonus for me. Winning the world title again would be the biggest achievement for me."
Meanwhile, Doherty's fellow-Dubliner Fergal O'Brien beat Barry Hawkins in a nail-biting final frame decider to secure his place in the second round in Sheffield.
A pressure break of 41 did the damage in the deciding frame as the world number 45 claimed a dramatic 10-9 victory and a showdown with Higgins or Englishman Michael Holt in the next phase.
O'Brien punched the air in delight. "I had a Peter Ebdon moment in the last frame," said O'Brien, referring to the 2002 world champion's reaction at beating Stephen Lee 13-12 in the last 16 of the 2001 World Championship. "It was such a relief to win, it was a great shot to do it."
O'Brien pocketed a difficult long red along a side cushion to put the frame out of Hawkins' reach barring a snooker.
Having missed out on Crucible qualification in 2003, 2004 and last year, no wonder O'Brien was delighted with his victory. "I played well all day and in those situations you've got to fight for everything," added O'Brien. "I'm just so happy to be in the next round."