White thrills fans with win

Jimmy White’s fans cannot claim they are being short-changed by their hero during the Rileys Club Masters at the Wembley Conference Centre.

And they will be happy to shell out again tomorrow after the Whirlwind reached the semi-finals.

Unlike Peter Ebdon, through to the last four for the loss of just one frame, White has won both his games 6-5.

Four days after Matthew Stevens’ exit, fellow Welshman Mark Williams went down by the same scoreline.

“This, though, was a complete reverse of that match,” said White after setting up a last four showdown against Ronnie O’Sullivan or 17-year-old Chinese prospect Ding Junhui.

White admitted: “Against Matthew I started terribly and clicked towards the end. Against Mark, I was feeling the pressure towards the end.

“But as I heard the darts player Phil Taylor say the other night: ‘if you’ve got to win ugly, win ugly’.

White lost his focus after play was halted prematurely at the end of the third frame.

Williams complained to referee Paul Collier about the uneven bounce coming from the cushions but primarily from the top rail.

White was asked his opinion and agreed table fitters should try and rectify the problem.

“I thought we would go off and then come back for the next frame,” he explained.

“But instead they decided to take the interval early and I stood for it.”

Williams’ top break to that point was only 35 while White compiled runs of 73, 51 and 30.

When the game resumed Williams knocked in breaks of 78, 52 and 53 to square the contest at 3-3.

White responded with 68 to regain the lead. But back came Williams to obtain parity once more.

When White missed the final green in the ninth frame Williams cleared with 25 to lead for the only occasion.

“I should have won 6-4 but got another terrible bounce,” said the former world champion and twice Masters title holder.

“And in the last frame Jimmy was twitching all over the place but every time I potted a red I couldn’t get on a colour.

“The tables have been like this for 12 to 18 months and no-one is taking any notice.”

The 24-minute decider was littered with errors but White finally fell over the line with a top break of just 14.

“ kept saying to myself ‘HP’, ‘HP’,” he said in reference to his lucrative sponsorship deal that threw the tournament into confusion when he changed his name to James Brown.

White added: “Have patience, have patience, because I was rushing some of my shots.

“But I’m pleased to win because this is the second greatest tournament in the world.”

White’s latest win was celebrated by celebrity pal Ronnie Wood and six-year-old son Tommy – the latter carried aloft in the arena at the end of the match.

“It’s his half-term and I also won when he came with me last year,” added White.