White and Ebdon in tight battle

Jimmy White was still in contention to win his first ranking title in eight years last night after reaching the midway interval of the British Open final in Plymouth tied at 4-4 with Peter Ebdon.

Jimmy White was still in contention to win his first ranking title in eight years last night after reaching the midway interval of the British Open final in Plymouth tied at 4-4 with Peter Ebdon.

White, appearing in his first ranking tournament final since he lost 18-17 to Stephen Hendry in the 1994 Embassy World Championship, led three times in the opening eight frames but Ebdon dug deep to enter the final session on level terms.

Breaks of 59 and 42 helped White to a 2-0 lead but Ebdon, who has beaten three top-eight ranked players during the week, put together breaks of 44, 42 and 39 to level at 2-2 .

White reclaimed the lead at 3-2 with a break of 57 before Ebdon levelled again by fashioning 59 in the sixth frame.

Ebdon reached his third successive ranking final with a comfortable 6-2 victory over Alan McManus on Saturday, while White, who last won a ranking title when he lifted the UK crown in 1992, got to the final after beating Paul Hunter by the same score.