FRIDAY, April 28 must have felt like Friday the 13th for Peter Ebdon, who was the subject of heavy, sometimes over-the-top, media criticism after his grinding tactics in beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-11 late on Wednesday. If that were not bad enough, he also relinquished control of his Embassy World Championship semi-final against Shaun Murphy.
Whether Ebdon read the papers over breakfast is not known, but if he did, maybe his famously steely focus was punctured by the headlines — or maybe the outstanding scoring of Murphy had more to do with Ebdon trailing 9-7 at the end of the second session after leading 6-2 overnight.
However, Ebdon is irrepressible. The 2002 world champion relishes eroding deficits, making his mental strength tell and by recovering to