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By Jonathan Rawcliffe
BBC Sport at The Crucible
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White was made to wait before sealing victory over O'Brien
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Crowd favourite Jimmy White survived a second session fightback by Fergal O'Brien to win 10-5. White was in irresistible form during Monday's play, making six breaks over 50 to demolish O'Brien and take a lead of 8-1 overnight.
Despite a seemingly impossible task, O'Brien hinted at a recovery as he pulled back two frames before White went 9-3 up.
O'Brien managed to win two more, but a patient White was not to be denied.
Following his win, White said he believed he could finally end his quest for the world title this year.
"I wouldn't come here if I didn't think I could win it. I'd go and play bad golf in Spain instead," he said.
"Semi-finals are no good to me, finals are no good to me, I'm here to win it.
"If I can produce my practice-table form on the match table, then I'm as good as anyone."
J WHITE (Eng) 10-5 F O'BRIEN (Ire)
110-15 (80) 68-31 87-25 (59) 65-81 69-56 (50) 72-34 (56) 83-0 (58) 67-66 (67) 76-28 8-77 0-76 (76) 80-18 0-106 (58) 6-73 108-0 (52)
~RS~a~RS~Domestic~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~56~RS~){kind=small}
MMIX
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