Snooker: White feels the intense Drago heat

TONY DRAGO extended Jimmy White's barren spell in Plymouth yesterday, denying him a last piece of silverware before the Embassy World Championships. Drago sped to a 81-minute, 5-2 victory in the British Open.

'I couldn't wish to play any better than that,' Drago said. The Maltese player meets James Wattana or Darren Morgan in the last eight. Drago threatened to inflict a whitewash on his struggling opponent when breaks of 56, 63, 41 and 38 took him 4-0 up.

White raised the hopes of his supporters by claiming the first two frames after the interval. However, his mini-revival was dashed when he potted only one red in the seventh frame.

White, still without a ranking title success since capturing the 1992 UK Championship, said: 'My game is coming together. It would have been nice to have won something before Sheffield - but in the past I've won titles and lost the big one, so maybe this could be a good omen.'

Nigel Bond beat Liverpool's John Parrott 5-3. 'I beat him the first time we ever played but lost every other match since, so it's nice to gain this revenge,' said Bond, who now plays Ken Doherty or Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last eight. O'Sullivan is a round behind despite beating Willie Thorne 5-2 yesterday.