Stevens - taken command. (Getty Images)
STEVENS PUTS ON A SHOW AT CRUCIBLE
Matthew Stevens rekindled his love affair with the Crucible this afternoon but
Chris Small looks as though he will soon be divorced from the tournament.
The 2000 world finalist resumes tomorrow morning with a 7-2 lead on the LG Cup
champion from Edinburgh.
And though dogged Small will not go down without a fight, it is hard to see
him preventing Stevens reaching his target of 10 without too many problems.
World number eight Stevens has a great world championship record in recent
years.
In addition to his 18-16 defeat by Mark Williams three years ago, Stevens has
been a semi-finalist for the past two years-only losing 17-16 to Peter Ebdon 12
months ago.
In fact, Carmarthen-based Stevens has not suffered a first round defeat since
1997 when he lost 10-7 to Andy Hicks.
He made the perfect start by taking the opening three frames helped by runs of
93 and 71.
Small, who needs steroid injections to combat a painful spinal disease,
finally got on the board in frame four.
It did not provide him with any inspiration though and Stevens won a couple of
scrappy frames to lead 5-1.
Clearly frustrated, Small tossed caution to the wind in the seventh and
compiled a break of 92.
But it was to be his last success of the session as Stevens won a 44 minute
eighth frame and then potted the vital balls to establish his commanding 7-2
overnight lead.
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