Local star finds some form
JAMES WATTANA, as he’s known in England, won four of the last five frames to take the match.
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[SNOOKER] Thailand's James Wattana produced one of his best performances for a long time to reach the last 32 of the Welsh Open in Newport on Tuesday.
Wattana, 3-1 down at the interval, won four of the last five frames to beat Ricky Waldon 5-4 and now faces Joe Perry for a place in the third round. The win was a big boost to Wattana's hopes of retaining a top 32 ranking next season. Now at No 30 on the provisional rankings, the world No 33 could look back to the second frame as pivotal. "Had I lost it, I would have been four down at the interval and there would have been no way back," said the Thai. In the end Walden, 65-4 ahead, could only watch from his chair as Wattana put together a break of 63 to level at 1-1 on the black. Walden, from Merseyside, rolled in breaks of 89 and 70 to go ahead 3-1, but Wattana took the next three frames to lead 4-3. While a break of 68 helped Walden force the decider, he never potted a ball in the ninth frame as Wattana made sure of his place in the second round with runs of 47 and 30. He now goes in against Perry with the winner tackling John Higgins, Barry Pinches or Scott MacKenzie for a place in the quarter-finals. On a day of shocks, top seed and holder Ronnie O'Sullivan was beaten 5-3 by Ian McCulloch. Stephen Hendry, the second seed, lost 5-3 to Barry Hawkins, veteran Steve Davis crashed out 5-4 to Jamie Cope and Peter Ebdon was whitewashed 5-0 by Joe Swail. China's Liang Wenbo, who whitewashed Nigel Bond in the first round, suffered a 5-3 mauling at the hands of Graeme Dott. John Dee The Nation
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