Dale enjoying Welsh support (From Penarth Times)

Dale enjoying Welsh support

IS Dominic Dale celebrating a glorious win in the Welsh Open - or is it all over?

As we went to press, the Penarth snooker star was just beginning his best-of-nine-frame second-round match against John Higgins, who won the competition in 2000.

Dale's first-round match in Newport was a nerve-racking 5-4 win over Sussex qualifier Mark Davis.

A semi-finalist last year, the Welshman came from 2-0 down to lead 4-2,but was forced into a deciding frame shoot-out.

"I lost my two qualifying matches at Prestatyn last week, so there was a lot of pressure on me and I was nervous," he admitted.

"At 2-0 down, I thought'here we go again', but I get a lot of support here and I wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"I was twitching a bit in the last frame, but I took my chance."

Dale is currently 24th in the Embassy world rankings. Higgins is ranked sixth in the world.

The tournament has already thrown up one surprise.

Jimmy White was back on the M4 after he suffered a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Australian Neil Robertson, who had once described himself as White's number-one fan.

World number one Ronny O'Sullivan is favourite to retain the title, and world number two, Stephen Hendry must play third-ranked Stephen Maguire in his next match.