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| December 13, 2001 | Thursday | Ramazan 27, 1422 |
Williams, Higgins complete lineup
YORK, Dec 12: It is often said that the rankings don’t lie in snooker — and that’s certainly in evidence at the 2001 UK Championship as the world’s top eight players are all through to the quarterfinals at the Barbican Centre in York Wednesday.
World No 1 Mark Williams and defending champion John Higgins completed the line-up with hard-fought victories against Alan McManus (9-7) and Paul Hunter (9-5) respectively tonight.
Breaks of 87 and 51 put the Scot 5-4 up and he took the next with a 46 after Hunter had missed on 25. The world No 9 from Leeds halved the gap with a 93.
The defining moment came in the last frame before the mid-session interval as Higgins played an excellent escape to hit the final red after the cue ball had finished angled in a corner pocket. Hunter failed to put the red safe and Higgins cleared with 30 to go 7-5 up.
Further routine misses in the next two frames from an out-of-sorts Hunter, who had led 3-1 early in the match, allowed Higgins to make breaks of 58 and 42 and progress to a last-eight tie with Stephen Lee.
Williams also resumed level at 4-4 and showed spirit and nerve to take four of the last five frames to see off world No 12 McManus.
The Welshman — UK champion in 1999 — took the first of the evening session but then left the final red over the middle pocket in the next, allowing McManus to clear to the pink to level.
The Scot knocked in an 81 to lead 6-5 before Williams made a 107, the only century of the match, to restore parity at the interval. A miss on the black after potting the final red cost him the chance of beating the highest televised break of 140 — made by Welsh Nations Cup team-mate Dominic Dale - by a point.
Runs of 40 and 53 put Williams 7-6 ahead and he clinched the 14th frame with an outrageous fluke on the pink along the top cushion.
Gritty McManus kept his hopes alive by winning frame 15 but his chance of taking the match into a decider disappeared when he potted a red only to screw back into the centre pocket at 31-7 behind.
Last 16:
Stephen Hendry bt Mark Davis 9-2; Matthew Stevens bt Jimmy White 9-7; Stephen Lee bt Robin Hull 9-4; Ronnie O’Sullivan bt Dave Finbow 9-0; Peter Ebdon bt Tony Drago 9-7; Ken Doherty bt Dominic Dale 9-3; Mark Williams bt Alan McManus 9-7; John Higgins bt Paul Hunter 9-5
Kelly Fisher continued her amazing season by winning her fourth successive ranking tournament with a 4-1 victory over Lynette Horsburgh in the final of the ladies 2001 UK Championship in York Wednesday.
She took the first two frames with a top break of 22 and then pinched the third on the black after Horsburgh’s attempt to roll the pink into the corner pocket failed and Fisher potted pink and black to go 3-0 up.
Horsburgh, from Blackpool, found her feet in the next and made an excellent break of 56 to pull one back. She was in first in the fifth frame but missed a tricky mid-range red on 20, giving Fisher the chance to score 48 and close out the match.
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