Hawkins holds nerve and puts Ronnie at risk
Ronnie o’sullivan is at risk of his earliest Betfred World Championship exit since 2009 after Barry Hawkins clung to his lead in their gripping second-round clash.
From 5-3 ahead, Hawkins split sunday’s eight frames with the title favourite to nudge 9-7 in front, needing four more for victory this evening.
Breaks of 68, 118, 82 and 89 from o’sullivan showed he is scoring well enough — he also had 139, 88 and 103 on saturday — but Hawkins has clawed his way in front and is fighting to stay there.
Five-time world champion o’sullivan beat Hawkins 10-1 in the Masters Final in January, and was also brutal against the Kent cueman in the 2013 Crucible title match. Revenge for those defeats would taste sweet for the underdog, and o’sullivan was all business, no nonsense, as he recognised the threat.
tickets for the Final have been changing hands for upwards of £700, no doubt caused by the o’sullivan factor.
to lose him at this stage would be a huge blow to the tournament.
However, four-time world champion John Higgins carved out a 10-6 lead over Ricky Walden on the other table, putting the Wizard from Wishaw in a strong position going into today’s final session. He only requires three more frames to clinch a quarter-final clash against fellow scot alan McManus.
the evening session of the tournament’s middle sunday was full of drama, with Judd trump and Mark allen in trouble after both had difficult mornings.
trump became embroiled in a twitter row when his trophy hopes took a major nosedive.
the 2011 Crucible runner-up was tied at 2-2 with Ding Junhui at the interval in the opening session of their match, before sliding 6-2 behind.
While in his dressing room during the break, after making a break of 106 to split the opening four frames, trump objected to a tweet from Welsh cueman Dominic Dale.
Dale wrote, in a tweet he later deleted: ‘there is a colossal difference in class between Ding and Judd when it comes to cueball control. it’s Judd’s biggest downfall.’
trump hit back at the 44-year-old by replying: ‘You are clueless. Watch my first break of 80 something then watch both his frames.’
Former semi-finalist allen fell 7-1 behind against Kyren Wilson, but he tried to look on the bright side.
allen tweeted: ‘Perfectly poised for a legendary come back. it’s first to 13, don’t worry!! Ha ha.’
But the Ulsterman faces a stern task as he finished the evening session 11-5 down to Wilson.
trump, meanwhile, ended the day 10-6 behind to Ding.