SNOOKER: Jimmy White shook off a bout of flu and a Fergal O'Brien revival to win 10-5 and book a second-round place in the World Championship at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre yesterday.
White, six times runner-up at the sport's premier event, led by a flattering 8-1 scoreline after the first session and despite being outplayed when the match resumed he gained the two frames he needed to progress.
"I had been taking tablets for the flu until yesterday and then stopped, and it has come back a bit today. It makes you feel a bit fuzzy," said the world number 11, who will face Matthew Stevens on Saturday.
"But as well as that, Fergal played much better today. I couldn't have expected to have been 8-1 up against anyone the way the game is these days and I nicked a couple of close frames so 6-3 would have been fairer.
"Hopefully I can get rid of this cold and I'll be looking forward to playing Matthew."
There would be no more popular outcome than White finally lifting the trophy on his 43rd birthday and he knows he remains good enough to do it.
"For the first time in 11 years I've stopped doing exhibitions," he explained. "I used to think of exhibitions as being practice but they are not. Instead I've put in a lot of work and had my best preparation for this tournament for a while and I'm really happy with my game.
"Reaching the semi-finals and losing in the final is no good to me. If I can reproduce my practice form on the match table I'm as good as anyone."
O'Brien, who beat John Parrott in the final qualifying round, acknowledged he had blown his chance of another prized scalp in the opening session.
"I never settled yesterday and my concentration was nowhere near what it should have been," said the Irishman.
"But I could have nicked a couple more frames in that session and if I had I would have had a right chance. Instead, today was all about playing for pride."
John Higgins outscored and ultimately outwitted youngster Mark Selby to reach the second round yesterday.
The fifth seed won 10-5 to secure a meeting with Shaun Murphy having played some of the best snooker seen at the Crucible Theatre in the tournament so far.
There could hardly have been a more impressive start to the match as the 1998 champion opened with a 136 break and Selby immediately responded with a 135, while Higgins claimed a 5-4 lead thanks to a 106.
And yesterday he eclipsed all those contributions by knocking in a 138, the highest break of the tournament so far, before clinching victory in a 42-minute 15th frame his 21-year-old opponent looked to have in the bag.
Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry was expected by many experts to be given a tough test by Australian rising star Neil Robertson but the Scot will have been happy with the outcome of their opening session. Hendry led 7-2 helped by contributions of 103, 94, 86 and 84, leaving him needing three more frames when the contest resumes this morning.
Ali Carter will face defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round after completing an emphatic 10-4 victory over 16th seed Marco Fu.
