 White needs to arrest his slide down the rankings |
Jimmy White beat Nigel Bond 5-2 in the final qualifying round of the China Open in Prestatyn. The Londoner compiled breaks of 93, 70 and 50 as he comfortably sealed his passage to Beijing in March.
The victory boosts the 44-year-old's chances of ending the season inside the top 64 and guaranteeing his place on the 2007-08 World Snooker circuit.
"The Whirlwind" was ranked eighth last season but has fallen to 56th after a miserable run of results.
White had failed to reach the concluding phase of any of the season's first five ranking tournaments.
He was beaten 6-1 by Matthew Stevens in the first round of the Masters last week, describing his performance as "devastating".
But he still needs to win two matches in March to feature in the televised stage of this year's World Championship in Sheffield.
Meanwhile, Leicester's Mark Selby, who beat Ding Junhui, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach the semi-finals five years ago, made a break of 120 in the deciding frame of his 5-4 victory over Mark Davis.
Jamie Cope, runner-up in this season's Grand Prix, whitewashed Welshman Ryan Day 5-0 to book a first-round meeting with defending champion Mark Williams.
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