Irish pals must fight to the death

Fraught with conflicting emotions Patrick Wallace yesterday prepared himself for the biggest match of his life in the quarter-finals of the World Championship against his friend Joe Swail.

Last night the 31-year-old Queen's University graduate from Dungannon, who came into the competition as the third lowest-ranked player in the draw, defeated England's Mark King, surpassed his best ever performance and equalled his entire earnings from last year. Wallace picked up £20,000 for making it into the last eight.

"Joe's like a brother to me. We've known each other for 15 years and have been practising together for about the same length of time," Wallace said. "It's a very, very tough game for me. It's going to be a difficult game to prepare for, unlike any game I've ever had before.

"It's the biggest match of my life, but I'm playing Joe. The thing about Joe is that if he won the tournament I'd be as happy as if I'd won it myself."

Wallace's win, based largely on stealth and strong positional play, also guarantees that an Irish player will contest the semi-final, possibly against Ronnie O'Sullivan.

In what is his first visit to the Crucible in seven years as a professional, Wallace broke the back of the match in yesterday's morning session when he moved from a comfortable 5-3 lead to a more commanding 11-5.

A five-frame run at the tail end was when he put it beyond doubt. Leading 7-5 and with King still very much in contention Wallace built a 125 break before swallowing up the remaining four frames. Three of the games in that session he won on the black ball.

Coming back to the evening session the Dungannon man immediately hit a break of 71 for 12-5 and built from a 50 break in the second frame of the session to secure his place against his Belfast friend.

"This time last year I was watching it on the telly. Joe was playing Dominic Dale in the quarter-final and Dale had beaten me in the qualifiers. Now I'm here. I can't believe it really."

Wallace's match against Swail will begin this afternoon.

There was never any doubt about Ken Doherty's quarter-final opponent, 25-yearold Scot John Higgins, who added to his 11-5 overnight lead against Chris Small to win 13-8. His first session against Doherty also begins this afternoon. Higgins, who won the UK Championship last December but has since shown a dip in form, cited his marriage and moving house as the offtable distractions which have caused him to suffer an unusually barren period.

But the Crucible has a habit of providing players with a focus and Higgins has the tough game and the break-building ability to unseat Doherty if, as he did against Michael Judge, Doherty relies on his back-up game.

"Ken has had a good season. He's a gritty player. If I can find my form I should be OK for that one," said Higgins. "But Ken is a tough match player so I'll have to match him. I'll have to play better than I did today to beat him.

"Although maybe he isn't playing the greatest stuff, it's his tough match playing that has always brought him over the winning line. But I've a good record against him."

Higgins scored just one century in the fifth frame of the match but prevented Small from coming to within comeback range before finishing 13-8.

Peter Ebdon also beat Stephen Lee 1312 and now meets Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-final.

Stephen Hendry also advanced at the expense of Paul Hunter. The former champion needed only one frame of last night's session to take the match 13-5. He meets Matthew Stevens in the last eight.