Whirlwind White storms past Wattana

Jimmy White won seven frames in a row today to beat Thailand's James Wattana 10-6 in the world snooker championships at the Crucible…

Jimmy White won seven frames in a row today to beat Thailand's James Wattana 10-6 in the world snooker championships at the Crucible in Sheffield.

White, a six-times finalist, couldn't be knocked out of his stride during today's session and will now play fellow Englishman Stephen Lee in the second round.

White gained only his second victory in a ranking event this season by recovering from 6-3 down overnight to defeat the Thai 10-6.

White now plays Stephen Lee for a place in the last eight but, despite this victory, he will need to improve his standard by another few levels to stand any chance of upsetting the world number seven.

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"I've been trying ever so hard but yesterday I played so badly," admitted the six- times Crucible finalist.

"I've not even seen Ronnie O'Sullivan's 147 break and he's a good friend of mine.

"But I was so gutted with the way I played I didn't want to watch it. I just chilled out with a couple of mates in my room and we watched Sopranos instead."

Elsewhere Matthew Stevens of Wales meanwhile beat Scotland's Chris Small 10-3.

World number one Ronnie O'Sullivan, who became the first player to record two maximum breaks at these championships, resumes 6-3 down against Hong Kong's Marco Fu.

Scoring sequence:

Jimmy White (England) beat James Wattana (Thailand) 10-6
Frame scores (White first): 31-78 1-58 0-67 49-74 99-8 69-48 68-38 53-58 59-68 83-1375-5 67-32 67-58 99-0 40-46 (Wattana conceded) 68-46

Matthew Stevens (Wales) beat Chris Small (Scotland) 10-3
Frame scores (Stevens first): 93-13 87-26 69-5 31-62 60-37 46-22 5-114 58-36 63-25 80-33 25-83 96-0 72-7