Stephen Hendry snooker blog
Posts tagged Stephen Hendry
Whiplashed Williams waltzes into quarters
0859 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Mark Williams had suffered the effects of whiplash after a minor car crash on Monday evening and felt sore throughout his second round Masters match against Ali Carter; but this had little effect on the Welshman’s performance as he fought bravely through the pain barrier and defeated his opponent 6-3 in the process.
Williams and seven-time world champion, Stephen Hendry, were both involved in the road accident following a night out. The 34-year-old’s car was stationary at the time of the collision, but was shunted from behind at traffic lights. Fortunately, only minor injuries were sustained, and the Welshman was given the green light to play just 24 hours later.
At the end of the first frame, those packed inside Wembley Arena could have been forgiven for questioning whether or not such an incident had even occurred. Williams hit a break of 98 without reply to seal the opening frame, although the amount of time he needed to take each shot – along with a series of slight grimaces every now and then – suggested he had only just been passed fit to play.
Carter went one better in the second frame, compiling a 99, and then took a 2-1 lead in the frame after with a 71 in the third.
Williams recovered, though, and equalised with the highest break of the match. His 102 was arguably the standout moment of the match, as the game became scrappier after the interval.
The scoreline was then reversed once again in the fifth – Williams stumbling to a 66-3 frame win – but Carter again levelled proceedings in the sixth after a break of 98.
As the match became more tense, the errors began to seep into both players’ games. But Williams was clearly up for a scrap-fest and won the next three frames to secure his place in the last eight.
The two-time world champion and Masters winner, who had spent the morning in hospital on painkillers, had performed valiantly and admitted he’d surprised himself at times during the match.
“The pain was ok; it got worse when the tension started to build at the end. It meant I got down to shots slower which might have helped!” the world No. 15 joked.
“I surprised myself, I didn’t expect that and felt good out there. I couldn’t rush any shots because of the pain. That was probably some of the best stuff I have played for some time.
“I’ll try and get a massage tomorrow and hopefully it should get better.”
Williams will now play the man who knocked his fellow passenger, Hendry, out of the tournament, Shaun Murphy, tomorrow evening at 7pm.
Rob Swan
Delighted Murphy advances to quarters at Hendry’s expense
0860 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Stephen Hendry was knocked out of the Masters yesterday evening in the second round of the tournament, losing a pulsating 6-4 match against Shaun Murphy at Wembley Arena.
The Scot already had six Masters titles to his name before taking to the table last night, but was bidding to make it seven with another victory this winter.
A truly dominant force in this competition at the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, Hendry was competing for his first Masters trophy victory since 1996.
But his opponent, Murphy, looking to progress past the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time, held his nerve in a tense duel inside Wembley to seal his place in the next round at Hendry’s expense.
It could have been an entirely different outcome had Hendry not missed a simple green in the final frame – a decisive error which the Scot would have inevitably replayed over in his head last night.
“There is no excuse for missing a green like that. It was part twitch and part changing my mind,” the world No. 10 said.
“I was down on the shot thinking, ‘Should I stun it off the cushion?’ but in the end I didn’t do what I wanted.
“It’s frustrating as I played quite well. To lose like that was hard to take because Shaun looked a bit nervous.
“If it had gone to the last frame I’d have had a good chance.”
Both competitors played their part in this match unfolding as a thrilling contest. Hendry, whose record of five consecutive Masters titles between 1989 and 1994 remains unequalled, hit a 114 in frame two to level the match, and then took the lead in the third frame after another impressive run of 79.
However, this merely spurred on Murphy, who admitted after the match that the crowd’s shouts of support for Hendry provided “free inspiration” for him.
The 2005 world champion took a 4-2 lead with an 81, but was immediately pegged back in the seventh frame following a mesmeric 104 by his opponent.
Not to be outdone, Murphy kept his cool and remained unmoved by the crowd favourite’s exploits, and then displayed his fighting spirit once again to hit a superb 106.
A tight, penultimate frame went to the Scot, which in turn set up a stirring finale. But missing that simple green in the tenth frame – with the score neatly poised at 54-32 – eventually sealed Hendry’s fate once again.
However, this wasn’t before one last kick in the teeth for the Masters legend. On what turned out to be the final shot of the match, Murphy played for safety but inadvertently ended up fluking the blue to seal his place in the quarter-finals, leaving Hendry with that all too familiar sinking feeling.
The world No. 3 will now face the winner of tonight’s match, either Ali Carter or Mark Williams, on Thursday evening, with a potential semi-final against Peter Ebdon, Ronnie O’Sullivan or Neil Robertson lined up if he can end his quarter-final hoodoo, and move a step closer to winning that first coveted Masters title.
“Any match against Stephen is a major event so I’m delighted to win,” a buoyant Murphy said.
“It was a high standard with big breaks and good safety. To win the biggest three events would be a boyhood dream come true. My record in this tournament isn’t great – I normally watch it from home so I’m not sure I want to break my routine! ”
Rob Swan
Angry Allen must focus his aggression
0864 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
There has been a lot of buzz around 23-year-old Mark Allen from Northern Ireland lately. This young, upcoming star became professional only four years ago and despite his age,
Allen has already had a very impressive career. He is currently number 11th in the world rankings and on his record you’ll find a last 16 placement in the World Championship, a semi-final in the Northern Ireland Trophy, a quarter-final in the China Open and a victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan that took him to the quarter-finals in the World Championship. With all of the above and a Jiangsu Classic victory to boot, Allen has every reason to be proud.
But this natural-born talent has had some serious mood issues in the past. The Northern Ireland team banned him from the Pontin’s for banging his cue, hitting the table and behaving rudely to other people. In the 2007 Aberdeen Grand Prix, Allen took out his anger on the snooker table again.
He was warned by the referee but replied with cuss words which in turn resulted in Ken Doherty calling him “a disgrace” after the match. Doherty was later blamed for being a bad loser by Allen since he had recently lost to him.
But let’s hope Allen doesn’t forget that snooker is a gentleman’s sport. Temper tantrums are probably looked upon more seriously in snooker than in other sports and can lead to tournament bans. Besides, they might affect the game negatively.
After all, big snooker stars like Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis always seemed to be able to maintain their composure throughout the most trying situations. If Allen can learn from the legends, he might be able to reach his full potential. If he can avoid future bans, who knows how far he can go?
Watch out for Allen in the 2010 Masters. Last year he made it all the way from the wildcard position to the quarter-final. This time around he’s in the top 16 and is therefore automatically qualified for the tournament. His first match will be against John Higgins.
The Masters: a guide
0866 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
The Masters. A tight clash between the top players and an opportunity for the audience to see the best snooker there is. High quality playing, excitement and prestige – that’s The Masters in a nutshell. It really is a great way to start the new year.
Although not a ranking tournament, this is still one of the most prestigious tournaments a player can win, just as the name indicates. Only the top 16 are automatically invited, as well as a few wildcards who are determined through a special qualifying tournament. The prize fund in The Masters is the second biggest after the World Championship and it’s also the tournament that has been around the longest after the World Championship.
There have been two main sponsors of the event during the years. Benson & Hedges, a cigarette brand, sponsored The Masters until 2003 when a new restriction on tobacco advertising took effect. The tournament was without a sponsor in 2004 but then Riley’s, a billiard club, became the sponsor for one year. In 2006 Saga Insurance, an insurance company that deals with health, travel, home and car insurance among other things took over.
The first Masters was held in 1975, at the Wembley Conference Centre in London moving to Wembley Arena in 2007, and the winner of this very first version of the tournament was John Spencer, an English player who together with Ray Reardon dominated the game in the 1970s. He played the final against Reardon and won 9-8 after a re-spotted black.
The player who has won The Masters the most times is Stephen Hendry with his six victories. Between 1989 and 1993 Hendry took the trophy five consecutive times. His latest Masters victory was in 1995. Ronnie O’Sullivan isn’t very far behind with his four Masters wins. Both Steve Davis and the late Paul Hunter have won three times. The latter has almost become associated with the tournament because all of his finals were exceptionally exciting, ending 10-9.
Hunter, who died in October 2006, may be most famous for his Masters victories and it was the biggest tournament he ever won. Jimmy White even started a campaign to have The Masters renamed after Hunter as a tribute. World Snooker, however, decided that The Paul Hunter Scholarship was a more appropriate mark of respect. The scholarship will be used to help a young talented snooker player improve and accomplish his goals. In 2007 a foundation in Hunter’s memory was founded and the Paul Hunter Foundation has since then aimed to give young players, and especially disabled youngsters, an opportunity to play snooker.
Only two maximum breaks have ever been made in The Masters. The first 147 was made in 1984 by Kirk Stevens in the semi-finals, and the second was made by Ding Junhui in 2007 in the wildcard encounter against Anthony Hamilton. The first century ever made in the tournament was made in 1979 when Alex Higgins made a 132 break. Ken Doherty, who had also been in the final the year before, was extremely close to making a maximum break in the 2000 final. He was just to pot the final black ball when he missed it and later lost the match to Matthew Stephens.
In the 2009 Masters the four wildcards were Mark King, Judd Trump, Mark Allen and Ricky Walden of which the latter two proceeded to the knockout stage. The 2008 Masters winner Mark Selby, John Higgins, Maguire Maguire and O’Sullivan were the four semi-finalists. Selby and O’Sullivan proceeded to the final that went all the way to 10-8 in favour of O’Sullivan that managed to take his fourth Masters title. 18 centuries were made during the qualifying stages and 32 during the television stages. The highest break was 140 and was made by John Higgins.
There have been quite a few spectacular finals in The Masters over the years. Hendry has been in eight finals and finished as the runner-up in just three of them. In 1991 he managed to come back after 7-0, winning the match 9-8. Davis made a pretty good comeback in the 1997 final after having trailed 8-4 against O’Sullivan. The match eventually ended 10-8 in the favour of Davis. The 1998 final between Mark Williams and Hendry was decided after a re-spotted black. Hunter is probably one of the most famous Masters finalists after having provided the audience with true nail biters time and time again. In 2001 he managed to win even though his opponent, Fergal O’Brian had led 6-2. In the 2002 final Mark Williams had led 5-0. Paul Hunter then found his form, came back 5-5 and won the tournament. In 2004 he came back and won after having trailed 6-1 against O’Sullivan.
The winner of the first Masters tournament received £2000 in prize money while the victorious player in 2009 received as much as £150,000. The total prize fund was £480,000. 1991 was the first year when the winner’s prize reached six figures.
England has the most wins in The Masters with 14 victories. Wales have won six times and Scotland nine of which six of the victories were those of Stephen Hendry. There have only been a few non-UK victories. In 1979 South Africa’s Perrie Mans beat Alex Higgins in the final and Cliff Thorburn of Canada won The Masters three times and was the runner-up once.
Something about The Masters that is always intriguing is the old and young players and how they are going to do in the tournament. With the prestige involved in The Masters we somehow expect the older players to win time and time again. At the same time we are aware that a shift of generations will be necessary at some point in the future.
A young player that has done very well three years in a row without being able to reach the final is Maguire. In 2007 he lost the semi-final 6-4 to O’Sullivan who won The Masters that year. The year after he came to the quarter final but couldn’t get past Mark Selby. Maguire then reached the semi-final in 2009 but lost 6-1 to O’Sullivan who went ahead and won the entire tournament. It seems like it would be Maguire’s turn to win this tournament soon. Who knows, if it hadn’t been for O’Sullivan he might have already.
Ding Junhui is another young player that was so close to taking the trophy but let it slip away. In 2007 he made an amazing performance throughout the entire tournament until the final when exhaustion took its toll.
Another young top 16 player who will appear in the 2010 Masters is Mark Allen. In 2008 he came to the third round in the qualifying stages where he lost to Liang Wenbo. The year after, however, he made a quite impressive performance when he, as a wildcard in the tournament, managed to reach the quarter final.
This year’s version of The Masters will have two true veterans in Stephen Hendry and Peter Ebdon. While Hendry’s past performances in The Masters are unprecedented Ebdon seems to have an affinity to quarter-finals. He has been in the Masters quarter-final no less than seven times. His best finish in the tournament were the semi-finals in 1995 and 2005.
The qualifying stages will take place October 26 to 31 2009 and the main 2010 Masters will be held between January 10 and 17 in Wembley Arena and will be broadcasted by both BBC and Eurosport. Don’t miss it.
An old-timer who’s still in the game
0867 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
“Stephen Hendry has been rubbish lately. He’s finished.”
These words have been uttered by more than the odd snooker fan or two in the last couple of years. People are disappointed in the former star, but are learning to accept the fact that even stars get old and start to lose it.
It’s not surprising that people react this way. Hendry used to make the impossible possible, over and over again. With seven world championship titles, 36 ranking tournament victories, nine maximum breaks and more than £8.5million in career winnings, this Member of the Order of the British Empire truly is worthy of the epithet “legend”.
And yes, looking back on his glory days it’s quite obvious that his technique has deteriorated. His most recent ranking success was in the 2005 Malta Cup and this year he fell outside the top eight for the first time in 11 years. It’s understandable that people are disappointed and expect more of him. Hendry used to be almost impossible to beat. He was a kind of snooker superhero, and now he’s just a regular player in the top 16.
A regular snooker player in the top 16. Wait. Something’s obviously wrong with that sentence. If Hendry is in the top 16, in fact tenth in the world rankings, he must still be amazing, right? Let’s look at it from another perspective.
Hendry reached the final at the 2006 UK Championship, the semi-final at the 2008 World Championship and the quarter final at the 2009 World Championship where he also compiled a maximum break.
These are all quite remarkable feats and if it weren’t for the fact that Hendry was an extraordinary player in the past and used to be much better, we would be very impressed. Let’s pretend for a second that Hendry was a young shooting star whose career had just begun.
We would congratulate him and probably predict a bright future for him instead of complaining. He would be seen as a young, upcoming talent and people would speculate about when he would take his first world championship title.
Nevertheless, the fact remains. Hendry is not getting any younger and he undoubtedly passed his peak a long time ago. His career will inevitably go into decline sooner or later, possibly sooner than that of the younger players in the top 16. But he’s still a damn good snooker player.
We should enjoy watching him just as we enjoy watching all the other top players. Every now and then we even get to see a glimpse of the old Hendry – always something that’s worth waiting for.
Hendry white hot at 6 Red World Championship
0886 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
The 6 Red World Championship continues as we’re approaching the final on Friday. One of the more successful players has to be Stephen Hendry who so far has beaten Itaro Santos, Shea Brereton and Lucky Vatnani. He also beat Irishman Patrick Lally 4-0 and made it to the next round.
Just as John Higgins was beginning to get over the fact that he was beaten by the women’s world champion Reanne Evans, he lost to young upcoming star Adiyta Mehta from India. Higgins has, however, advanced to the next round.
John’s namesake, Alex Higgins, quickly recovered from the loss against Alex O’Donoghue and beat Jim Stewart 4-0.
All the 25 professional players participating in 6 Red have now qualified for the knockout phase. Most of them seem to appreciate the different format of 6-red snooker. The reason why some of the pros seem to have a hard time winning matches is that there is hardly any room for mistakes. One miss is very likely to cost you the frame. That way it seems more random but it’s also faster and more intense, which organisers hope will attract new fans.
One-man show for O’Sullivan
0894 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Yesterday’s last 16 match between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Peter Ebdon could have been a nail biter but instead turned into sort of a one man show. O’Sullivan took the lead early on and kept it up until the very end. He played very well and everything seemed to work for him, even the long pots that he’s had some trouble with lately. O’Sullivan didn’t have to give the match his all though as Ebdon’s form was quite bad. His long pot success rate was especially low and he failed to take his chances when he needed to. The match ended 9-3 and O’Sullivan now has a potentially tough encounter against Mark Selby ahead of him. Selby didn’t have too difficult a time beating Stephen Hendry 9-5, even though Hendry fought well.
Stephen Maguire’s victory over Stuart Bingham was very convincing and he will now face Peter Lines in the quarter finals. Lines success in the match against Mark Williams was of course a surprise considering his spot at 64, in the world rankings but Williams wouldn’t give up without a struggle and the match ended 9-8.
Not quite as surprising, but still something of a minor sensation was Liang Wenbo’s 9-2 victory over Mark King. Liang now has a tough match against John Higgins to look forward to. Speaking of Higgins, he was quite sure to win over Neil Robertson at 8-6 but Robertson gave a powerful effort to make Higgins sweat a little. For a while it looked like he was going to make it but Higgins refused to give in and won 9-8.
Premier League winner and defending champion Shaun Murphy is no longer in the tournament after a disappointing 9-3 loss against the 2005 champion, Ding Junhui.
Finally, Ali Carter beat Stephen Lee 9-5 and will meet Ding in the last eight. More exciting, high-quality snooker is coming up later today. There’s still a lot to look forward to.
Stevens fails to take his chances
0895 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Yesterday was an exciting day three of the UK Championship in Telford with many high-quality snooker matches. All the last 32 matches were completed and four of the last 16 matches kicked off.
Matthew Stevens didn’t manage to put up any real fight against Ronnie O’Sullivan in yesterday’s match. At 7-3 he could very well have taken the next frame as both players gave an excellent safety performance. But he failed to take his chances and missed too many easy shots and as always with O’Sullivan, you will be punished for that. The match ended 9-3 and O’Sullivan will now meet Peter Ebdon which should be a thrilling encounter. Will O’Sullivan be able to deal with Ebdon’s deliberate and tactical play without getting too restless?
Ali Carter had to fight hard for his victory over Rory McLeod who managed to take no less than seven frames. McLeod played very well and we haven’t seen the last of him. Having won the Masters qualifying event, he will be given a new chance to prove himself at the Wembley arena in January.
One of the last 16 matches that began yesterday was that between Mark Selby and Stephen Hendry. This first session ended 5-3 to Selby and while he was the better player, Hendry definitely still has a good chance of winning.
An uneven match to say the least took place between Liang Wenbo and Mark King. At 7-1 to Liang there’s not much hope on the horizon for King. Stephen Lee beat Mark Allen who unfortunately had severe cue problems.
Stephen Maguire leads Stuart Bingham 6-2. Maguire didn’t seem to have too much trouble focusing despite the fact that he missed his grandfather’s funeral due to the tournament.
John Higgins took the lead over Neil Robertson, 5-3, and Ding Junhui didn’t seem to have any trouble beating Mike Dunn 9-5 even though the latter lead 5-3 at one point. Defending champion Shaun Murphy awaits Ding in the last 16.
The biggest surprise of the day was Marco Fu’s match against Peter Lines, No. 64 in the world rankings, which ended 9-3 to the latter. Could it have been because of jetlag that Fu didn’t do better or was it just Lines who had found incredible form after years in the shadows of the big tournaments? Either way, Lines’s next match against Mark Williams should have him shaking in his boots.
Be sure not to miss today’s last 16 matches at 1:30pm. There should be a nail biter or two on the schedule.
Champion Murphy makes winning start
0896 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Most of the first UK Championship matches this weekend were quite predictable. The match between Stephen Maguire and Michael Holt was exciting for a while when Holt reduced 4-1 to 4-4, however, he was never really a threat to Maguire. The match finally ended 9-6.
Gerard Greene seemed to have a hard time with defending champion Shaun Murphy. For Murphy this match seemed to be a walk in the park and he calmly carried on his mission of defending the championship title, winning 9-5.
Mark King beat Anthony Hamilton to a pulp – 9-2. The match between Graeme Dott and Mark Williams ended with the same result in favour of Williams, though this was due to illness. Dott unfortunately had to withdraw at 6-2.
Steve Davis showed impressive form against Stephen Hendry and the match was quite exciting all the way until 6-6 but then Hendry suddenly found his second wind and took three consecutive frames.
Ricky Walden managed to put at least some pressure on world provisional number one John Higgins but in the end he didn’t have what it took and lost 9-7.
The match between Mark Selby and Jamie Cope was probably the most random this weekend. Cope lead 8-4 halfway through the match but Selby made an amazing comeback and won.
Neil Robertson beat Tom Ford 9-3, not very surprisingly.
Stuart Bingham’s match against Joe Perry appeared to be a breeze, ending 9-4.
Peter Ebdon beat Judd Trump 9-4 and Ryan Day almost made a maximum break but unfortunately he failed on the brown ball. He then went on to lose the match 9-3 to Liang Wenbo.
Mark Allen and Stephen Lee played an incredibly even match, chasing each other until the very last frame when Lee clinched the victory.
We’re eagerly awaiting today’s matches.
The unluckiest break of them all
0910 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
In his 1976 autobiography, The Breaks Came My Way, Joe Davis explains something that even players of today can relate to, namely the power of your faithful old servant – the snooker cue.
This most important tool can’t be compared to a golf putter, a cricket bat or a tennis racquet. There seems to be an extreme precision required when it comes to cueing and every millimetre of the wood and the leather counts.
Davis gives several examples of players in his time who changed their cues and whose careers went downhill soon afterwards. Of course, things were very different back then when the sport hadn’t yet matured and hadn’t become a multimillion pound industry. There are stories about players who gave away their cues to girls, thereby sacrificing their entire career. Sometimes, sports bettors would steal or break the cue of the winning player, thus sealing their fate.
Davis goes on to discuss if the importance is psychological or some kind of physical phenomenon and reaches the conclusion that it’s possibly both. Then again, why would snooker players of all sportsmen be more superstitious than others? Regardless, the cue is a highly personal thing. It’s not so much about the quality as the habit of playing with that special piece of wood.
Davis tells the story of his own cues. His first was a gift from his mother. It served him well for many years until one day he put a damp cloth in its case which caused it to bend. He was forced to find a replacement, eventually running into a member of the Parish Church Institute – he ended up buying his cue. Davis and his cue then lived happily after until the 1927 Open Billiards Championship when it suddenly vanished.
After an entire session of miserable play on Davis’s part the cue was finally found. The police thought it might’ve been hidden by people in the betting world. On another occasion his cue was stolen but retrieved after a reward had been announced.
The cue problem is still a problem in modern times. Since the nine-eleven attacks new restrictions regarding storing of bulky items such as snooker cues on aeroplanes have been implemented. This has caused quite a few cues belonging to top professional players to be damaged during flights.
A player to suffer this fate was Mark Williams, whose cue was once bent so badly that it resembled an S. The most well-known accident involved Stephen Hendry’s cue, a £40 stick he had owned since he was 14 that was broken during a flight. Imagine the distress he must have felt seeing the cue he won seven world titles with get smashed.
One player that has been engaged in this problem is Peter Ebdon who, when being the director of the World Snooker Association, worked hard to get the Government to give dispensation to professional snooker players allowing them to bring their cues on the plane as a carry-on. It takes a pro to understand the true importance of an old, well-used snooker tool. It’s a good thing that snooker cues have their own spokesperson nowadays since they’re obviously undervalued by the rest of the world.