2008 888.com World Championship

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Ladder - QUALIFYING RESULTS  - CRUCIBLE RESULTS  - INFORMATION - MATCH NOTES - PLAYER CUEFACTS

GALLERIES: No. 1 Preliminary Rounds - No. 2 Qualifying Rounds

STEPHEN LEE

v

JOE SWAIL

Round One - Match 7

(Best of 19 frames)

Saturday 19 April 14.30

Sunday 20 April 19.00

 

Match Notes

Good afternoon, welcome back after a very brief lunch break... This match gets underway in a few moments now and it promises to provide a few thrills and spills and probably a few laughs along the way... On the other table this afternoon Jamie Cope makes his Crucible debut against Peter Ebdon and that promises to be an intriguing clash, a contrast of styles but expect some "big" potting from both players.. You can keep up with all the matches on the World Score sheet and on our Match Notes... Swail has muffed his opening chance and Lee has pounced, already onto 56... an excellent start by Lee and his silky smooth cue action is working well already.. the frame is in the bag, can he make the century... an amazing shot from black to last red, right round the table but the red stays in the jaws, but he'll be delighted with that brilliant 96... A good red from Swail to get him started in frame two... and he's done well here, onto 64, one more red needed and he's got it...  Swail has first chance at the balls in frame three... Swail passes the 50 mark again... the breaks ends at 66 and there's another frame for the Belfast boy... Swail is enjoying himself now, a cracking red there but he's got no position... As you can see we've teamed up with 888.com and we've got a great competition running giving you the chance to win a VIP trip to the Crucible on 24 April... Click on the banner below to enter and click on the 888.com banners to visit their special Snooker site with loads of information and more great competitions... Swail has earned another chance ... he fails and leaves Lee an opening red... Lee slots home a good red and smacks in a hard black trying to split the reds off the top cushion, they haven't opened up for him though... well the red didn't look on but he took it on and now he's scattered them everywhere... Lee leads 35-24 with four reds left, he's lucky that three of them have gone safe... Lee has tied Swail up in a snooker and he's missed once already... and again... no free ball so Swail has to try again... Swail misses for the third time and it's going back again as there's no pot or free ball for Lee...

Lee now leads 58-35 on the last red.... fourth time lucky but he's left it on... and Lee misses it so after all that Swail has the chance to clinch the frame... but Swail can't and Lee clears to the pink to level the match at the interval... the interval is over and Joe Swail was going nicely there until he left the black in the jaws so only a 48 point lead... and he's left a chance for Lee to counter attack here... and there's a usual fluke along the rail to keep Lee at the table... but is there a twist in the tail of this frame, Lee closed to 51-48 but he's snookered himself on the pink... now Lee has to endure a safety exchange on the pink... just to rub salt in the wound Swail has now snookered Lee on the pink... and he's missed twice already, Swail now leads 60-51 and he must hit it this time or he'll need a snooker...  well the shot that had everything - Lee smashed round the table, sent the pink close to the corner pocket and the white into the corner pocket - frame to Joe... Swail starts well in frame six, makes 32 and plays safe to keep the pressure on Lee... Lee counters with 45, it's all on the colours and Swail has got the yellow, he just wants green and brown... and he's got them with that 54 clearance... plenty for Swail to smile about and he's having a laugh and joke with the audience, he's one of the Crucible's favourite players... Stephen Lee looks pretty serious though and he needs to win this next frame to keep in touch... but he can't get to the table at the moment and Swail has already moved into a 52-6 lead on a break of 48.. so that break of 53 gives him a 51 point lead with 51 on and he's snookered Lee on all three reds... At last Swail gets the red he wants and that's enough for the frame... There seems to be little Lee can do right at the moment and Joe is gaining in confidence, he's embarking on a break in frame eight... he's made 54 now and leads 60-15 with 4 reds left... the break will end at 64 as he's lost position, he's 52 up with 59 on... Lee misses a red to centre and it's on for Swail to win the frame, which he does... into the last frame of this session and it's Swail again opening a lead... the evening session starts at 19.00 when we'll see John Higgins return against Matthew Stevens and the start of the young guns shoot out between Ali Carter and Barry Hawkins... Swail's break ends at 47 with a good safety... Lee makes 24 but misses a long pink, so Swail leads 51-24 on the last red... Swail slots home the long red and he make sure of the black and he's 7-2 ahead at the end of the session, not the expected score line... Join us again for the end of this match on Sunday evening...

welcome back... can Stephen Lee launch a come back in this match after a poor first session.. a god start for Lee as he snookers Joe off the break... and that gives him an immediate chance to accumulate some points, 29 so far on the board for Lee... he's got a 42 point lead but that missed yellow turns the table over to Swail, a rather messy table now with reds and colours rather congested... Lee's now picking his way through the traffic and leads 48-12, Lee's done well there to clinch the frame at that visit... Swail is first to the table in frame eleven, on a run of 28, he's made 33, broken down and immediately got another chance.. and those two thirty plus efforts give Swail another frame... and another as Swail dominates the next, just one more for victory... maybe one last chance for Lee, he's at the table in the next, but you'd think it's just staving off the inevitable now... he's broken down and Swail is only 4 points behind with two reds left... one of which he misses... Lee succeeds in clinching the frame and at least takes the match into the interval...

The players are back at the table, well Joe Swail is... but not for long, only 4 points for Joe at that visit... well he's missed that next shot by a mile, he's got the jitters at the moment, but here's another chance for Swail... well Joe has a 42 point lead but now Lee is very unlucky, a kiss off a red and he's covered the black which was waiting by a pocket for him to launch a counter attack... Swail finds another red, black was waiting for him and this is his chance to win the match... the lead is 54 and there's 59 left on, not any more down goes the match winning red... there's more drama to come on this table now as Ali Carter and Barry Hawkins resume at 9-9 - a one frame shoot out...

FRAME SCORES

1. 96(96)-1

2. 8-65(65)

3. 8-67(66)

4. .69-49

5. 51-66

6. 45(45)-87(54)

7. 6-58(53)

8. 23-109(61,42)

9. 24-68(47)

FRAME SCORES

10. 117(75)-12

11. 0-71(30,33)

12. 6-64(33)

13. 61-46

14. 1-72

15. .

16. .

17. .

18. .

19. .

FRAME SCORES

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

QUOTES

WINNER

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QUOTES