White too good for Bond

Jimmy White wasted little time in dispensing with Nigel Bond tonight as he secured his first world ranking semi-final place for nearly three years at the Travis Perkins UK Championship in York.

The Whirlwind, who led 5-3 after the first session of play courtesy of six 50-plus breaks, was swiftly back into the groove and duly denied Bond a chance to progress.

The 41-year-old will now meet Matthew Stevens, who defeated Paul Hunter 9-3 in today’s other quarter-final.

“I was fairly solid; I didn’t score that heavily, but my important pots were good,” said White.

“I’m playing my B-game at the moment. I’m not firing on all cylinders, but let’s hope it connects against Matthew.

“I’ve got my game in reserve, so it will be nice to have a day off tomorrow and then come back and play well against Matthew.”

A scrappy ninth frame was quickly put to bed tonight as breaks of 73 and 47 followed to leave Bond requiring something special to snatch a victory.

It was not to be, and Bond lost the last frame as White knuckled down with stubborn breaks of 35 and 20 to clinch a well-earned victory.

“I had great support again. It was a shame it was only a few frames for them to watch, but I’m very proud of my support,” added White.

It was also plain sailing for Stevens who, having led 6-2 at the interval, took little more than half-an-hour to book his place in the last four.

A century break in the opening frame of the first session from Stevens set the tone for the match, and the Welshman was at it again with a superb 104 in the opening frame of the evening session to leave Hunter well and truly on the back foot.

At one stage he was well-placed to register a 147. But having potted 13 reds and 13 blacks, he agonisingly missed out after a wayward pot at a red with the rest.

Hunter hit back with a spirited 60 to keep his faint hopes alive, but Stevens added breaks of 60 and 86 to take the match.

“My long game was very good,” said Stevens.

“It hurts your opponent when you are scoring heavily – fortunately it was my time to get a rub of the green.

“If Paul wins the first couple of frames then he’s very dangerous, so I was just glad to get that first frame of the evening out of the way.

“I’ve put a lot of hard work in. It’s starting to pay off. It’s going to be a packed audience (against Jimmy), but I know what to expect because we’ve played each other before. It’s a dream match.”

Hunter was far from happy with his own performance but hopes his close friend Stevens can now go all the way.

“He got his revenge on me. I hope he goes on and wins it now, he can’t be getting beat in the semi-finals,” said the Yorkshireman.

“I didn’t feel like I played a match today. You can’t play well all the time, but I was disappointed with the way I played – especially in a quarter final.