TABLE WOR LD champion Stephen Hendry came back from near disaster to
keep alive his hopes of a third UK snooker title in four years. The Scot
needed to win the last three frames against Welsh rookie Mark Williams
to triumph 9-8 and scrape through to the last 32 of the tournament in
Preston last night.
Hendry, winner of nine titles last season, appeared to be on course
for a comfortable victory when he led 5-2 following breaks of 118 and
116. But he then lost six of the next seven frames against Williams, a
17-year-old from Ebbw Vale.
However, Hendry pulled himself together in the nick of time as breaks
of 68 and 84 set up a tense deciding frame. It was then that Williams'
inexperienced showed. He attempted an ambitious pot and watched in
dismay as the red rolled back up the table and provided his opponent
with the opening for a match-clinching clearance of 109.
There also was joy for Glasgow's Alan McManus, a 9-7 winner against
Simon Mellish, but Ronnie O'Sullivan found the going tough and at one
time trailed world No.14 Alain Robidoux 7-5 after having led
4-1, but the leading youngster of the season remained cool and
eventually ran out a 9-7 winner.
Former world champion Joe Johnson had a great escape to defeat Darren
Clarke 9-8. When Clarke doubled the blue in the deciding frame, Johnson
required a snooker and both pink and black just to tie.
Clarke, however, snookered himself on the pink, failed to escape.
Results:
Third round -- W Thorne (Eng) beat J Wych (Can) 9-1, M Davis (Eng)
beat M Johnston-Allen (Eng) 9-5, G Wilkinson (Eng) beat F O'Brien (Rep
of Ire) 9-6, J Johnson (Eng) beat D Clarke (Eng) 9-8, J Wattana (Thai)
beat A Higgins (N Ire) 9-3, S Hendry (Sco) beat M Williams (Wal) 9-8, C
Wilson (Wal) beat S Francisco (SA) 9-6, R O'Sullivan (Eng) beat A
Robidoux (Can) 9-7, D Mountjoy (Wal) beat J McLaughlin (NI) 9-2, T
Knowles (Eng) beat J Wallace (Eng) 9-6, A McManus (Sco) beat S Mellish
(Eng) 9-7; E Charlton (Aus) beat S Suwannasingh (Thai) 9-7.
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