Robertson hoping to fightback in World Championship

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 8-0 and 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 afternoon’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.