Parrott, Stevens enter semifinals

By Geet Sethi

LONDON, FEB. 11. Ronnie O'Sullivan, who attracts a huge fan following specially here in his home town, failed to bring cheer to his legion of supporters as he crashed out losing 3-6 to John Parrott in a quarterfinal contest in the Benson & Hedges Masters on Thursday night.

In a match which failed to rise to any great heights, the world No. 4 gave a brief glimpse of his fluency when he compiled a 113 to reduce a 1-3 deficit to 2-3, but his inconsistency once again prevented him from proceeding further in the œ 615,000 event.

Parrott himself, was not at his best but he managed to pot the crucial balls and carved his win, by playing percentage rather than inspired snooker. The 36 year old, a contemporary of Steve Davis and Jimmy White, is ranked No. 5 and has surprisingly retained his position in the top 8 of the world rankings unlike his two more illustrious and celebrated stars.

While O'Sullivan criticised himself saying ``I missed too many balls out there and against a player like John you can't do that and get away with it''. Parrott admitted that `` while he wasn't hitting people with knockout punches, he was still winning on points''.

That in a sense sums up the contest between the two where besides the 113 from O'Sullivan, the only other two notable breaks were 50 & 59 by Parrott, who is looking to win his first Masters title in 13 appearances. In Saturday's semifinal, Parrott meets Mathew Stevens, who scored an identical 6-3 victory over Jimmy White appearing in his nineteenth Masters.

The 38 year old White, who survived a first round encounter against Hong Kong's Marco Fu had exhibited great composure in clinching a 6-4 victory over John Higgins, the defending champion.

Clearly delighted at upsetting the world No. 1 in front of his army of supporters, White, in grave danger of losing his place in the top 16 of the world rankings, was in desperate need of another confidence boosting result in the games most prestigious non-ranking event.

But on Thursday afternoon, clearly tense and edgy, the world No. 16 failed to regroup his concentration, his game strewn with too many errors in the first five frames.

Even at his best, the `Whirlwind' was prone to bouts of unpredictability which had seen him lose matches from fairly impregnable situations. Six runner-up positions at the World championships bear conclusive testimony to his unreliability under extreme stress.

But of late, he himself regards himself as a rank outsider in any tournament which feature the likes of Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan. By his own admission, his second round win over Higgins was achieved thanks to a below par performance by the world No. 1.

Trying hard to rediscover an elusive fluency, he not only missed too many crucial balls but also exhibited his edginess by committing two unforced fouls. First, in attempting to pot a long red, he missed by a wide margin and instead potted the black into a top pocket. Then with the cue-ball in hand, he fouled again, by placing the cue-ball outside the Baulk-line.

Stevens, his 23 year old opponent, winner of the Scottish Masters earlier in the season seemed determined not to get distracted by the vociferous support of White's army of supporters as he quickly accounted for the opening five frames with breaks of 46, 62, 52 & 40.

The fourth frame was a bonus for the talented youngster as he compiled a 40 clearance till pink and then potted the black after White over-cut the vital ball with the rest and left it over the yellow pocket.

But White somehow managed to pull himself out of his indifference and with breaks of 35, 47 & 40 the mercurial left hander clawed his way back into contention. But unable to sustain the momentum, White eventually conceded defeat in the ninth frame after Stevens constructed a decisive 64.

News has been received that Stephen Hendry has escaped unhurt in a near car crash. Driving back to the Hilton hotel in Wembley, after an appearance at a school in Bishop Stortford, his Mercedes being driven by John Carroll, his operations director just missed colliding with a 38 tonne draw bar trailer which parted company with the main unit on the busy M25 motorway.

The results:

Mathew Stevens bt Jimmy White 6-3 76-38, 69 (62)-20, 76 (52)-0, 64-61, 59-29, 48-67, 20-75, 18-80, 72 (64)-220.

John Parrott bt Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 65-37, 63-51, 26-68, 72-55, 8-124 (113), 50 (50)-69, 81 (59)-13, 90-21, 77-10.

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