February 10, 2002	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 26, 1422

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LONDON, Feb 9: The finger-nails of 2403 snooker fans at Wembley were left raw by a heroic performance from Jimmy White as he battled back from 5-2 down to win 6-5 against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarterfinals of the Masters Friday evening.

It was an amazing atmosphere at the Conference Centre — with Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and actor Terence Stamp among the crowd — as the two biggest crowd-pullers in the game went to war.

World and UK champion O’Sullivan — who was just eight years old when White won his only Masters title in 1984 — looked to be cruising to victory when he went 5-2 up.

But 39-year-old White showed that he still has plenty of spirit as he completed a remarkable turn-around.

In truth, the game failed to live up to the hype in terms of quality snooker and big breaks, with both players perhaps feeling the pressure of an expectant crowd. But the drama at the end more than made up for that shortcoming.

World No 2 O’Sullivan led the previous head-to-heads 16-8, although he lost 6-2 to No 11 White at the Masters last year.

The Rocket led 57-0 in the opening frame before missing a black from its spot. White took advantage with a 46 clearance to the black, including a brilliant deep screw shot - potting the pink to a baulk corner.

The Whirlwind looked set to go 2-0 up but missed a red to a middle pocket. After a high-quality safety exchange, O’Sullivan potted the last red and cleared to the pink.

The 26-year-old from Chigwell went ahead with a delightful 51 in the next, focussing on baulk colours. He missed a thin cut on a red on 50 in frame four, but later potted the final blue to take a 3-1 lead into the interval.

Both players made unforced errors in a scrappy fifth, but White took it with a 49 clearance to the pink. O’Sullivan regained his two-frame cushion with a stunning long red to a baulk corner in the next, setting up a run of 40.

O’Sullivan went three up with four to play in an error-strewn seventh, securing it with a long pot on the pink after White missed a simple final green over the middle pocket.

White pulled one back with a top run of 31 in frame eight then closed his deficit to one with 44 and 27 in the next.

O’Sullivan was in with a match-winning chance in the tenth but was unlucky to go in-off on 35 and White took advantage with a nerveless 72 to take the contest into a decider.

Again the younger man had the first clear scoring opportunity, but failed to split a cluster of four reds after potting the black with the break on 42.

His attempted safety bounced off the knuckle of the middle pocket back towards the reds and White countered with 35.

O’Sullivan played another poor safety on the final red, allowing his opponent to knock it into a baulk corner and clear to the pink to set up a semifinal meeting with Mark Williams who produced a clinical display to beat close friend Stephen Hendry 6-4 in a high quality match.