White books ticket to China
Jimmy White sealed a spot in the main draw of the China Open with a 5-3 win over Andrew Higginson in the final round of qualifying in Sheffield.
The Whirlwind put in a stellar performance to book his place at next month's tournament, coming from behind to ensure his progress.
White took a two-frame lead thanks to breaks of 57 and 73 but Higginson responded by taking the next three.
White, 49, levelled at three-all before coming back from 51-0 down in the seventh to edge ahead once again.
The former world number two then claimed the match with relative ease in the eighth frame to post a significant victory.
It was a different story for another veteran of the snooker scene as Steve Davis dropped to a 5-1 defeat to Rory McLeod.
Among other results, Shoot-Out champion Barry Hawkins was in good form as he blitzed Liu Chuang 5-0 while Dominic Dale made a break of 124 on his way to a 5-2 victory over Jack Lisowski.
The China Open is a world ranking tournament and runs from March 26 to April 1.
Results:
Andrew Higginson 3-5 Jimmy White
Tom Ford 5-4 David Grace
Mark King 5-1 Adrian Gunnell
Barry Hawkins 5-0 Liu Chuang
Dominic Dale 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Rory McLeod 5-1 Steve Davis
Joe Perry 5-1 Anthony Hamilton
Ricky Walden 5-3 Sam Craigie
Marcus Campbell 5-2 Ken Doherty
Mark Davis 4-5 Michael Holt
Ryan Day 4-5 Ben Woollaston
Stephen Hendry 5-1 Yu Delu
Fergal O’Brien 5-4 Li Yan
Marco Fu 1-5 Jamie Jones
Jamie Cope 5-4 Alan McManus
Peter Ebdon 5-0 Liang Wenbo
Comment 1 - 5 of 5
I used to feel that the likes of Jimmy and Steve davis were depriving the younger players of chances but I have changed on that. There is something admirable about the persistence of these guys that allows them to keep on competing against young and hungry players. I was watching the darts last week and particularly Phil taylor. He has lost out in the last two world champs and has passed 50 years of age. It would be easy for him to think that he has nothing left to prove. He's won umpteen world titles and titles in general, he's probably played as well as it is humanly possible to play darts and yet there he was averaging a ridiculously high average of 112 against Raymond Van Barneveld who also averaged an impressive 104. There is something amazing in the temparament of these guys that allows them to fly in the face of conventional wisdom and keep on beating the odds. All you hope is that when these guys get their chances in ranking events, they can reproduce the form that allowed them to qualify.
And round one of the China Open will now see Judd v Jimmy! If the legend can bring form to that match it'll be an absolute belter!! Cant wait...!
That would have been an exciting high thrills game...Steve Davis v Rory McLeod
Bugger, Mclodd won, thats gonna be good for spectators.
Close, close,great to see Jimmy playing half decent. The man who once said' If I don't play and beat the best to witn a tournament, then I dont feel I've won it', '
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account