AUSTRALIA'S Neil Robertson was today hoping to pull off the most amazing comeback in snooker history in the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield.
Robertson trailed new tournament favourite Stephen Maguire 11-2 and was in danger of being beaten with a session to spare at the Crucible.
But the Melbourne left-hander won the final three frames yesterday evening to trail 11-5 going into this aft
ernoon's final session and give an out-of-sorts Maguire something to think about.
The winner of the second-round clash will face either Stuart Bingham or Joe Perry in the quarter-finals, Bingham holding a 5-3 lead in the battle of the qualifiers.
Four matches will finish today with the most eagerly-anticipated seeing Ronnie O'Sullivan take a 9-7 lead into the final session against Wales' Mark Williams.
O'Sullivan, seeking a third world title, won three frames in a row with breaks of 102, 50 and 78 to lead 9-5 but Williams crucially took the last two of the session with breaks of 81 and 73.
China's Liang Wenbo or Northern Ireland's Joe Swail will provide the last-eight opposition for the winner of that match and it was Liang with the upper hand after their opening session. The 21-year-old qualifier reproduced the form which accounted for former champion Ken Doherty in the first round to open up a 6-2 lead, winning the first two frames with breaks of 84 and 90 as Swail failed to pot a single ball.
Swail finally got on the scoreboard with a break of 45 in the next but ran out of position from the pink and then played a terrible safety shot to let Liang in to snatch the frame – but did at least take the final frame before the mid-session interval, 64-43. However, Liang won the next three frames to charge into a 6-1 lead, and was certainly enjoying the rub of the green.
The Sheffield-based left-hander even fluked a red in the fifth frame but did not realise it had gone in, returning to his seat only to be sent back to the table by a laughing Swail.
Swail's sense of humour was being sorely tested, however, as he struggled to find any form, but the 38-year-old from Belfast at least won the final frame of the session with a break of 47.
The full article contains 409 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
