Weight and Expectation No Problem for Lee

Stephen Lee's sweeping 6-1 win over Peter Ebdon gave him a place in tonight's semi-finals of the Saga Masters and provided encouragement to those who believe that significant success at snooker is compatible with possessing a fuller figure. No leading player has carried as much weight as Lee since the late Bill Werbeniuk, a world No8 of the 1980s who religiously consumed a daily 40 pints of lager.

Few of today's leading players carry much excessive poundage. Ronnie O'Sullivan, recently a creditable 28th in the Essex Cross Country Championships, is particularly sleek and barely breaks sweat in the arena while Lee, who piles on weight whatever he eats, invariably perspires profusely. This has often appeared to affect him in the latter stages of long matches, although he did manage a fine 64 clearance to snatch a 6-5 victory over Graeme Dott on the final black in the opening round, a contest which proved, that effort apart, how badly it is possible to play at this level and still win.

Like Stephen Hendry and others, Lee has been frustrated by his failure to bring his practice form into the arena: "I've got some form on me but when it doesn't come out it's head-banging," he said.

His dramatic win over Dott changed everything. Crisp and confident, he soon led 2-0, increased to 3-0 when Ebdon prioritized the pursuit of money at the expense of making sure of the third frame.

Having opened the scoring with 41, Ebdon had access to an unmissable pink with the reds ideally placed not only for a frame-winning break but a total clearance. Instead, he chose a more difficult black in pursuit of the £35,000 bonus on offer for a maximum break but lost position and gave Lee the chance to clear with 87. "I shouldn't have gone for the maximum and I got what I deserved," Ebdon said.

After Lee had pressed on to 5-0, Ebdon had another, better 147 chance, in which he did not have to strain to hold black ball position but over-cut a close-range 14th black on 105. Despite a late alarm, Lee held on from 69-0 to take the next frame for victory and his technique and tactical nous is as good as anyone's. But from a career-high ranking of fifth he has slipped to a provisional 25th and needs to win several matches in the Welsh and China Opens and the World Championship to extend his membership of the elite top 16 into a 12th season. To help him achieve that, Lee has vowed to lose weight in time for the World Championship. "I've stopped drinking," he said. "I'm bang up for it."