When he took the fourth, 67-24, he had unpicked all Hendry's good work of the day before.Hendry had to wait until this storm had blown itself out and he was helped by an interval which allowed him time to regroup and rethink. A break of 57 pushed the Scot into the lead again and although O'Sullivan made it 7-7, he pushed on again with a 45 and a 66 to give himself a narrow advantage.Earlier there had been a disruption to Higgins' semi-final with Mark Williams that entered the realms of surreal. Snooker has been halted by a wasp before and at the German Masters this season the players had to endure fireworks exploding above them, but rain stopped play? Surely not.Well almost. With Sheffield basking in glorious sunshine, water started dripping onto the table, which was a nuisance not only because the players find it hard to cue while holding an umbrella but because moisture affects the performance of the balls.Twenty-six years ago the world championships ground to a halt when the roof began to leak, but that was in Manchester, where they expect that sort of thing. The weather outside confirmed there was nothing wrong with the Crucible's superstructure and eventually the fault was traced to either the lighting or the BBC's above-table camera.It was Higgins, trailing 5-3 overnight, who first realised something was wrong during the 10th frame. He was on his way to a century break when he spotted a mystery droplet had fallen between the pink and black spots. He tried to dab the liquid away and then called in the referee, Alan Chamberlain.They failed to clear up the damp spot and things took on an element of farce while table fitter Andy Kennedy started working at the baize with a tea-towel.
Higgins briefly played on to complete a break of 104 before the players left the arena and returned to their dressing-rooms.n Colin Brinded, of Great Yarmouth, is to referee Sunday and Monday's World Championship final for the first time.. EARLY SEASON frustrations evaporated for the old champion and the contender here yesterday. Damon Hill and David Coulthard were counter- punching and talking a good fight. The two Britons, without a finish between them in the first two races of the season, believe they are finding their range in time for tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix. Hill, eclipsed so far by his Jordan Mugen team-mate, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, was fourth fastest in unofficial practice. Coulthard, trailing his McLaren- Mercedes partner and reigning champion, Mika Hakkinen, by 10 points, was a close second to the Finn.Coulthard fortified his championship aspirations with victory here last season, only for them to be dismantled by the pace and consistency of Hakkinen. He maintains this is not a crossroads in his campaign, yet can scarcely dispute the perils of falling further behind Hakkinen on a circuit he acknowledges as one of his best.Another glitch on the McLaren - this time an alternator fault - held up Coulthard's programme yesterday yet by the end of the session he was routinely posting competitive times, his fastest just 0.138sec off Hakkinen's.Ferrari's Eddie Irvine, the championship leader, was four-tenths of a second further back in third place, while his senior partner, Michael Schumacher, parked his car opposite the pits and had to settle for fifth position.
The locals shared his obvious dismay."Michael didn't look too happy," Coulthard observed with scant sympathy The Scotsman, by contrast, was content with his day's work. "Had I been able to run untroubled, I'm confident I would have been quickest The rest of the day has gone well. I don't feel under pressure because I know the problems in the first two races were not mistakes on my part. This is not a make-or-break race, but it is one I want to win. I'm going for maximum points."After skirmishes with other cars forced him out of the two previous races, Hill is short of race laps, watching from the sidelines as his team-mate Frentzen claimed second and third places in Australia and Brazil.
Yesterday, however, Hill worked up a lather in what amounted to a much- needed sparring session.He said: "We're cutting back on the gap all the time. When you are on the cutting edge, as McLaren are, it gets more difficult to find that extra bit I'm under no illusions They're going to be nearly impossible to beat this weekend But I'm confident we can go faster. It's been difficult for me to get in tune because I've had only 10 racing laps. You only get close to your car in the race."Irvine, who heads the table by virtue of his win in Australia and fifth place in Brazil, acknowledges that only more mishaps for McLaren will open the door for Ferrari tomorrow. Schumacher aborted a late run because of a rear tyre failure but said: "I think we are in better shape than at the last race."Alessandro Zanardi, seeking his first points with Williams, was sixth, immediately ahead of his team-mate, Ralph Schumacher.
