Snooker: Irish double as champion falls

Ken Doherty became the second Irishman to reach the quarter-finals of the Embassy World Championship on a great day in Sheffield for Ireland.

The Dubliner, who lifted the sport’s most prestigious trophy four years ago, joined his friend from north of the border Joe Swail, who staged one of his trademark great escapes to knock out top seed Mark Williams in a thriller.

Seventh seed Doherty beat his practice partner Michael Judge 13-7, wrapping it up after his opponent, first-round conqueror of John Parrott, had enjoyed a couple more moments of glory with frame-winning breaks of 82 and 72.

But the 31-year-old did not believe he had advertised his chances of capturing the title again despite the shock departure of favourite Williams.

‘‘The first session of the match was dreadful and the second only a bit better,’’ said Doherty, winner of two ranking events this season.

‘‘It’s hard to play against someone you practise with because there is so much at stake. I love to see Michael doing well but not at my expense.

‘‘He played very well against John Parrott and I’m just delighted to get over the line.’’

Doherty saluted Swail for his heroics against Williams and, with Patrick Wallace still to play his second-round match, he recognised what a great tournament this is turning out to be for Ireland.

‘‘I thought Joe was fantastic,’’ said Doherty. ‘‘He played really well, had a 140 break the highest of the tournament so far and there could be three Irishmen in the last eight.

‘‘But my game is not yet in the condition. It needs to be if I am to win the tournament and I’ll need to play better in the next round to stay in the event.

‘‘I can’t derive much confidence from that performance but there is still everything to play for.’’

Doherty will certainly need to be at his best in his quarter-final as his likely opponent is second seed John Higgins, who took a 6-2 lead over fellow Scot Chris Small.

Higgins lost the first frame to a break of 99 and looked like going 2-0 down only for Small to miss the final black and leave it over a pocket.

From then on, it was one-way traffic and Higgins added a break of 103 to the two centuries he notched up in the opening round.

Ronnie O’Sullivan emerged as the strong favourite to reach the final from the top half of the draw after the defeat of Williams, recording a comfortable 13-6 victory over Dave Harold.

It was a fairly routine affair but the 25-year-old from Essex did not agree that the draw has opened up for him.

‘‘All the players who reach the quarter-finals are in form,’’ said the Rocket. ‘‘Whoever I play from now on it won’t be easy.

‘‘Joe Swail is obviously at the top of his form so that was never going to be an easy match for Mark and there was a lot of pressure on him.

‘‘It was a surprise result but Joe is a top-quality player and I’m still in a tough half of the draw.

‘‘My scoreline against Dave suggests it was a comfortable win but Dave played nowhere near his best, otherwise it would have been a lot closer. I only really played well in spasms.’’

Title-holder Williams had earlier been on the receiving end of a remarkable fightback from world number 16 Swail, who trailed 8-3 and 11-7 but battled back to prevail 13-12 with a sensational display of potting.

Swail is making a habit of staging incredible recoveries, as similar comebacks against John Parrott last year and Sean Storey in the first round this week testify.

This victory, in a classic encounter against the best player in the world, was Swail’s best yet and it means that still no first-time winner at the Crucible has successfully defended the crown.

Last year’s surprise semi-finalist eclipsed the 139s of John Higgins and Matthew Stevens with his 140, which now leads the race for the £20,000 highest-break prize.

The 31-year-old won four successive frames to level at 11-11, but then Williams edged ahead again with a courageous break of 71 after his opponent had broken down when attempting to compile a maximum 147.

As the tension mounted, Swail fought back and dug deep to compile a superb 91 to take the match into a decider, which he won with a 55 even though Williams was first among the balls.

‘‘I can’t keep doing this - it’s not good for the old ticker,’’ said a stunned Swail, who had been 9-7 down against world number 99 Storey but prevailed 10-9.

‘‘I don’t know what it is, I just seem to get psyched up and get the incentive when I’m behind. It’s not just here, I’ve done it all my life.

‘‘My concentration was terrible in the first two sessions. I was all over the place and Mark wasn’t much better. We were both struggling and dragging each other down.

‘‘Another difference was that I changed my cue tip last night and it must have worked because I played absolutely brilliantly today.’’

Of his 140 highest tournament break, Swail joked that he was ‘‘looking to get some insurance for it’’ and admitted he had been thinking about the maximum in frame 23.

‘‘Sometimes you get greedy,’’ he said. ‘‘I was feeling so good and scoring so well that I just had to go for it. You don’t get many chances to do it, especially with £147,000 at stake.’’

Williams was left cursing his form and claimed he would not practise ‘‘full time’’ next season after a disappointing campaign even though he has retained his world number one status.

‘‘I was absolute crap,’’ said the 26-year-old from Cwm. ‘‘Joe deserved to win but I threw away a couple of frames.

‘‘He didn’t give me many chances today, although I had a chance in the last frame and managed to make a mind-boggling 11.

‘‘I wish I knew why I’m playing so badly. Maybe I’m trying too hard.

‘‘I’ll cut down on the amount of practice I do after this. All the practice I’ve been doing has done me no good, so I’ll just do a couple of hours a day two or three times a week and play golf or go fishing the rest of the time.

‘‘Losing this title is no more disappointing than any other but I just can’t wait to get home now and go on holiday for a few weeks.’’