Jimmy White outplays Marco Fu

By Geet Sethi

LONDON, FEB. 7. A resurgent Jimmy White back in the elite group of top 16 players after two years in the wilderness, provided some evidence of his intentions of once again becoming the force he was with a 6-3 victory over wild card Marco Fu on the opening day of the 615,000 Pounds Benson & Hedges Snooker Masters.

Despite a late night finish against Steve Davis in the Premier League in Lincoln on Saturday, the mercurial 37 year old shrugged off a 1-3 deficit against Hong Kong's first world class cueist to secure a tense 6-3 victory which puts him in the main draw of top 16 invited players. It was a gritty and determined performance from a man who is known for his flair and adventurous approach to the game. Yet, yesterday he was more methodical and more calculative than one has ever seen him. Trailing 1-3 to Fu despite a fluent 117 in the third frame, White dug deep into his reserves to win five successive frames with further contributions of 79 and 66.

But there were too many unforced errors which thankfully went unpunished by his 22-year-old opponent who took to competitive snooker after watching White at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong eight years ago. Fu was off to an impressive start, breaks of 64, 64 and 79 revealing the distinct potential which he possesses to become the second Asian after Thailand's James Wattana to make a breakthrough into the top 16 ranked players.

White now meets John Higgins, the defending champion in the second round. Having experienced his most successful month in the beginning of the new millennium - he was a team member of the successful England team in the Nations Cup and reached the semi final of the Regal Welsh Open only a week ago - White is looking to regain some of the old vintage form, which made him such a spectator's delight and allowed him to dominate the game in the eighties and early nineties.

Mathew Stevens, the world no. 9 scored an emphatic 6-2 win over Scotland's Alan McManus and now awaits the winner of the Higgins- White encounter in the quarter final. McManus was disappointed early on in the match after he lost the initiative despite a run of 66. Once Stevens clinched the frame on the black, McManus lost heart as Stevens continued his relentless break building compiling breaks of 80, 96 & 64 with no answer from McManus in the last three frames.

McManus, the world no.8 has won this tournament - the circuit's most prestigious non ranking event - in 1994 and was a semi finalist last year. Last night however, he was outplayed by a cueist whose dramatic improvement in form has influenced many pundits of the game to predict a world title for him in the not too distant future. McManus offered some resistance by way of frame winning breaks of 71 & 70 in the second and fifth frames but his opponent's immediate and lethal response in the last three frames where he collected 240 unanswered points ensured the Scots exit from the event.

Stephen Lee and Fergal O'Brien are locked at 4-4 after playing for two hours forty minutes. Lee, the world no.6 had trailed 0-3 and 1-4 after Ireland's O'Brien fired in breaks of 93 and 70. But by snookering himself behind the black after potting an easy brown, O'Brien, ranked 11, allowed his opponent to stage a remarkable recovery. That sixth frame proved to be crucial as Lee went from strength to strength to level scores at 4-4. The psychological edge is predominantly in Lee's favour at the time of filing this report.

Jimmy White beat Marco Fu 6-3 - 26-68 (64), 4-143 (64, 79), 117 (117)-16, 1-66, 68-0, 115 (79)-10, 86-26, 57-48, 66 (66)-37.

Mathew Stevens beat Alan McManus 6-2 - 74-67 (66), 4- 76 (71), 59-8, 52-49, 0-72 (70), 80 (80)-0, 96 (96)-0, 82 (82)-0.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Arif optimistic
Next     : Pankaj Advani stuns Subash Agarwal