SNOOKER: Perry made to pay for missed pink
A simple miss on the pink cost Chatteris snooker ace Joe Perry a third win against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Masters at Wembley on Sunday.
Perry was poised to win the match 6-4 but missed the chance with the pink on the spot and was eventually edged out 6-5 by O'Sullivan, who was playing with a new cue after snapping his old model two days before.
Perry produced some good snooker as the first four frames were shared – making breaks of 63 and 85 – then O'Sullivan knocking in a 100 in the fourth.
In frame five Perry started with a break of 63, only for his opponent to clear with 68. Back came Perry with a 105 then Chigwell's O'Sullivan rolled in a 118 to go 4-3 up.
The next two scrappy frames went the way of Perry and he had the match at his mercy in frame ten, leading 48-25 with the balls well placed.
But he failed to convert a pink off its spot and O'Sullivan produced a cool 40 clearance.
The deciding frame was a tense affair lasting 38 minutes. O'Sullivan took control with a 42 then edged towards the winning line, helped by two unfortunate in-offs from Perry. And when O'Sullivan knocked in the final green he boosted his hopes of a fourth Masters title.
Perry said: "It's a shame that I have to take a negative away with me because it was a great game to be involved in.
"I played some good stuff – it's just a shame that the match will be remembered for the pink.
"I don't freeze against him any more, I knew that if I played well I could compete against him.
"I wasn't terribly happy with the way I was playing coming into the tournament, but I played much better than I thought I was going to.
"I don't like to talk about luck – I had my chances and missed them. There's no two ways about it."
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Thursday 17 May 2012
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