Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Joe finds Bond can be broken
HOME favourite Joe Swail gave his supporters plenty to smile about as he kept his Northern Ireland Open adventure alive.
But afterwards, the Belfast man admitted he doesn’t relish performing in front of his own fans.
Swail clinched a battling 4-2 win over Nigel Bond at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall then stated: “I don’t really like playing here, the pressure is unbelievable.”
Next up for the two-time World Championship semifinalist is a third round showdown with Scotland’s Eden Sharav today.
But Swail’s fellow Northern Ireland potter Gerard Greene crashed to a 4-1 defeat to Welshman Matthew Stevens.
Greene mustered a top break of just 37 as he failed to fire while Stevens went through despite not making a half century.
Meanwhile, Ronnie O’sullivan stormed into the third round with a 4-1 win over Mei Xi Wen.
The five-time world champion pocketed breaks of 119 and 54 to stay on track for the £70,000 first prize.
But Mark Williams saw his title-defence ended after a surprise 4-3 defeat to Ali Carter.
The World champion led 3-1 but Englishman Carter won three frames on the spin for a battling win.
“It was a tough one, but I just kept fighting,” reflected Carter. “It was a scrappy match.
“Mark’s not playing his best for whatever reason, but you’ve got to get through them.
“But I can’t work the draw out to be honest, there’s no way I should be playing the world champion and world No2 in the second round.
“It’s [World Snooker chairman] Barry Hearn’s decision. He’s been marvellous for the sport, but there’s a lot that’s not right.”
Meanwhile, World No 1 Mark Selby powered through with a 4-0 whitewash of Jimmy Robertson.
Breaks of 128, 127 and 90 did the damage.