O8217;Sullivan unlucky

His big chance came in frame 23 after a long red into the yellow pocket sent O8217;Sullivan on his way.

It seemed inevitable that O8217;Sullivan, who achieved another 147 in the Regal Welsh Tournament in January, would pocket the 147,000 pounds approx Rs 1.04 crore for the maximum plus the 20,000 approx Rs 14.2 lakh for the highest break of competition prize.

But after reaching 134 he agonisingly over-cut the final pink and left it dangling over the middle pocket.However, O8217;Sullivan then capped one of the most stunning sessions even seen at Sheffield when he immediately rattled in another 110 to level the match.

The eight frames had everything with Hendry8217;s three centuries enabling him to become the first player to register 75 tons at the Crucible and it took his career tally to 454.

It thrilled a capacity crowd and set matters up perfectly for tonight8217;s final session with both players needing five of the final nine frames to clinch a place in the final.

Higgins trails: Defending champion John Higgins faced a real test of character after ending yesterday8217;s session 14-10 down in his semi-final with Mark William.

The match had been evenly poised at 8-8 at the start of the day but Welshman Williams, bidding to reach his first world final, rocked the title-holder by winning all four frames before the interval.