Joe Perry says he has no regrets despite coming agonisingly close to pulling off one of the biggest wins of his career.
The Chatteris star led Ronnie O’Sullivan 11-9 in the second round of the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible but the five time champion produced an inspired four frames to win 13-11.
At 11-11, O’Sullivan made two centuries to clinch his place in the quarter finals.
Perry said: “The whole match I believed I was going to win. Even at 12-11 down I thought I could get back in to it.
“I have no regrets at all. I gave it everything and played really well. Unfortunately I was up against O’Sullivan and he is hard to play against in that form.”
Perry has had an impressive season - he won a tournament carrying ranking points for the first time at the 2013 Yixing Open, beating Mark Selby 4-1 in the final.
There were also semi final runs in the International Championship and Welsh Open as Perry worked his way back into the world’s top 16.
He said: “This will go down as my best season ever as a pro. I won my first tournament carrying ranking points and got back in the top 16.
“Now I’m going to have a few weeks off and will start practising again the week before my first qualifier at the end of May.”
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