Fan favourite Jimmy White insists he can go all the way at the UK Championship after he rolled back the years to beat Ali Carter 6-2. The 55-year-old produced his best result for many years on Thursday as he knocked out world number 14 Carter after a thrilling display. After three frames, White was 2-1 down but he cleared up from yellow to black to tie at the interval.
He pushed on from there to wrap up a convincing win and he insists his confidence levels are very high ahead of the second round. He told World Snooker: “Ali is a top player. If there’s one thing I still know, it’s how to win. I had a couple of good wins in Belfast last week which gave me some confidence. “I know I can do it, because I still do it in the odd match here and there. The big tournaments are the ones you really want to excel in. If my game is on I can beat anyone, I have proved that to myself today. I’ll practise for the next couple of days and look forward to the next match.
It was really nice to get a lot of support today at a great venue.” White will now take on Norway’s Kurt Maflin on Saturday in a busy day of action in York. Mark Selby is also in action against Scott Donaldson and he is the 1/10 favourite to win his contest. Ken Doherty and Neil Robertson are also set to do battle, while Mark Joyce will come up against David Gilbert. Joyce is priced at 6/4 to win, with Gilbert available at odds of 1/2 with Dafabet.
UK Championship odds available at Dafabet.