Swail hopes for place in quarter-final

Northern Ireland’s Joe Swail cut his overnight deficit in half to boost his chances of a Crucible quarter-final in the 888.com World Championship.

Swail trailed Chinese debutant Liang Wenbo 6-2 overnight but won five of the eight frames this morning to trail 9-7 going into tonight’s final session.

The 38-year-old should have been in even better shape but missed the black off its spot in the 13th frame after looking set to complete a superb clearance.

That put Liang, conqueror of 1997 champion Ken Doherty in the first round, 8-5 in front but Swail regained his composure to win two of the last three frames with breaks of 71 and 92 to give himself a fighting chance of progressing to a last-eight showdown with either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Mark Williams.

That match resumes this afternoon with O’Sullivan 9-7 ahead and needing four more frames for victory.

On the other table this morning Joe Perry won six of the eight frames to turn a 5-3 overnight deficit into a 9-7 lead over Stuart Bingham.

In a see-saw session, Perry won the first three frames to take the lead for the first time in the match at 6-5, before Bingham – who beat Steve Davis in the first round – won the next two to lead 7-6.

Perry, 33, a quarter-finalist back in 2004, then reeled off the final three of the session with breaks of 78 and 82.