Former champions Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins are locked at 4-4 in their quarter-final of the World Championship after an absorbing first session.
World’s top-ranked snooker player Higgins took the opening two frames without his fellow three-time champion potting a ball.
O ‘Sullivan hit back to level at the interval before Higgins won the fifth to make and sixth to make it 4-2.
However, O’Sullivan staged a comeback with breaks of 89 and 105 to draw level and will resume his biod for a semi-final appearance this afternoon.
Selby trails Ding
Meanwhile, Mark Selby ended the first session of another quarter-final trailing Ding Junhui 5-3.
The Englishman will also resume his quarter-final against his opponent from China this afternoon.
Opponents want Hendry to reconsider
Fellow players have urged Stephen Hendry to reconsider his decision to retire from the sport following a 13-4 thrashing by Mark Selby in the second round of the tournament.
The 42-year-old Briton said he would make a final decision ‘in the summer’ but his 26th appearance at the event this year may well have been his last as his fellow players contemplated competing without the man many consider the greatest snooker player ever.
“It would be a big loss to the snooker world,” world number one Higgins told BBC. “He’s got a big decision to make but it is only him that can make it.
“But I hope not [that he doesn’t retire].”
Three-times world champion O’Sullivan added his voice to the discussion, writing on Twitter, “Hendry is the greatest snooker player of all time. No doubt. Trust me, I have played them all.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2011.
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