Hendry upsets Robertson in Welsh Open
Stephen Hendry emulated the performance of fellow legend Steve Davis in completing a 4-1 win over Neil Robertson at the Welsh Open.
World number one Mark Selby survived a huge scare when Sam Baird, the world number 82, missed an easy blue when needing blue and pink to complete a 4-2 win over the Leicester player.
Selby made no mistake seconds later as he holed blue and pink to force the decider which he managed to edge for a 4-3 success after Baird had missed some more chances to set up a last 16 match with Martin Gould, who made breaks of 99, 82 and 73 in overcoming Peter Ebdon 4-2 in the other evening match.
Only a day after six-times world champion Steve Davis recorded two tons in a 4-3 win over Ali Carter in the last 32, Hendry - a seven-times world champion - conjured up a comfortable success over Masters champion Robertson, who rolled in a 135 in claiming his solitary frame of the afternoon.
"I haven't had much success against the top players in the last few years. I just played well, and when you do that you can compete. If you don't you've got no chance," said Hendry.
"In the last frame I expected to get the jitters, but I felt really comfortable clearing up, and that pleased me more than anything. The third frame when Neil missed the brown was important. I potted two doubles today, which is more than I've got in the last two years."
In other action, Welshman Mark Williams won the final frame to edge out Andy Hicks 4-3 in booking his spot in the next round despite failing to scale the heights at the Newport Centre.
There was a comfortable 4-1 win for Stephen Lee against fellow Michael Holt as the man from Trowbridge progressed to the last 16.
An opening break of 62 helped Hendry ease over the line in the opening frame only for Robertson to draw level with his run of 135.
Hendry won a tight third frame by holing a re-spotted black despite missing a tricky green late in the frame. Robertson missed a brown to move 2-1 ahead as Hendry forced the respot by sinking brown, blue, pink and black.
A 67 was good enough to carry Hendry 3-1 clear before a closing 86 earned him place in the last 16 founded on a long opening red after the Australian player could only compile 14 at the outset of the frame.
He will face Mark Allen or Ken Doherty on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.
Stuart Bingham enjoyed a 4-2 win over Mark King in the last of the afternoon matches.
Comment 24 - 43 of 43
Bunch of retards on here. Have no idea about snooker. I'd say most of you have never made a ten break.
Valhalla, you could try sportlemon.tv
Oh no, now we're resorting to the 'Your Mother' retarded mentality.
That's a bit odd! Dave has disappeared and Dizzy the videp nasty has come up
Does anyone know of a way to watch live Snooker matches from the U.S.A.?
Does your mother know that you're taking pictures of her, Leedsxbox?
Get this, Dizzys latest tantrum, and this from the same bloke who told us he isn't a 5 year old.
Oh, the fellow who said that Neil Robertson may one day become a top player, on the very night he won the masters, has put me right. Yes, you've just put the copper seal on it. if you think I'm in the wrong then all bets are off now - Please pardon my ignorance, Leedsxbox....... :-)
I did not call anyone a moron specifically. That said, Anyone who goes around thumbing down or up comments on a webpage needs help. Also, I was not demeaning people's opinion by saying that to say Neil Robertson is not a "plastic champ". That's not an opinion. It's clearly patent balderdash to say that someone that successful could be a "plastic" champ. My opinions were backed up with cold, hard facts. That's what makes them more valid. I could not give two fúcks if you thumb down or up my opinion on your mutiple accounts.
Pathologically delusional when you refer to other people as 'stupid' and 'morons'. A persons opinion should stand on its own merit. Nobody should try to 'sell' their views and opinions by demeaning everybody elses view and opinions.
Simple Dizzy, because your comments and observations are basically nonsense, once a person is known, and associated with talking nonsense then people don't acknowledge what they have to say, this is called 'evolution'. Now, if you wrote 'Today is tuesday', or 'Water is wet', people would thumb you down, because of your obvious reputation of talking nonsense.People are fickle, and when you start calling somebody 'Stupid', who is clearly infinitely wiser, more intelligent , more articulate and who's forgot more about snooker than you'll ever know, then the people are offended, and 'The people' are these forums, what they say, and how they interpret what is said is law, so, if you're thumbed down, learn from it, think about what you say before you say it.
No, Edward. You see the thumbs mean very little because it's silly people like you that use them. I give my oinion and whether I disagree with the opinion of others or not, I'm not five years old, so I'm not so puerile as to thumb down people's comments. I often disgree with you but I just would not thumb down your opinion because it's your opinion and your entitled to it, I'd much prefer to explain to you logically why I disagree with you, but unfortunately, i've noticed that there are a lot of dumb people on these forums who simply choose to thumb down a comment because their intellect does not allow them to argue their case in a cogent and coherent manner. My comment:
"Who's the plastic champ then?" got seven thumbs down, Edward. Why would such an innocent comment be worthy of seven thumbs down since morons insist on using the churlish "thumbs down system"? If you read my comments, they're largely based on fact rather than opinion so if you disapprove of my comments, you invariably just disapprove of the facts.
matthew.gachon. For me, hendry is the greatest but if he just started up five years ago with the same level of talent, I doubt that he would be capable of acquiring seven world titles. the standard is too high now. Trump, for me, can get to four or maybe five because he is so young. I don't see anyone coming close to the tally of hendry.
Yeah well, talking of stupidity, I think its obvious to everybody who uses these forums who the 'stupid' one is, but if thats too difficult, check the 'thumbs down' and 'thumbs up', but am sure even this will confuse you. You seem to a person who talks a lot, but actually says very little dizzy. Simple fact, Hendry put Robertson over his knee, spanked him soundly, and then told him 'Now,, go home, to bed'
What do you mean, stupid? "What's the surprise?", you say. Discussing something with you is like feeding a small child. It has to be spoon-fed in small, easily digestible chunks. Here's why it's a surprise: Stephen hendry has done sod all in snooker for ages while in that time, neil Robertson has become one of the best players in the world. Get it now? I don't know how I could make it any more simple for you to understand. Trump beat Robertson in the world champs last year but Neil, Williams, Ronnie and murphy were not playing that well so Trump only got to the final because the good players were not playing well, just as was the case in the year Neil won it. That is me applying your absolutely stupid logic. Do you now realise how stunningly stupid you appear, as with each comment, your knowledge of the game appears more and more limited?
@Dizzy, well...I think it's difficult to compare anyone with Hendry, no one else was playing attacking snooker when he brought it to the game, and it's a lot easier to play attacking snooker when you're the only one doing it, I think that greatly contributed to Hendry's fluency during his dominant years. Don't get me wrong, I think Hendry was a phenomenal talent, and a child prodigy; I'd say Robertson has the same level of talent, just a late bloomer who didn't get the early childhood training that most of the old stars did. I think Robertson is the best long potter we've seen yet, Trump will probably soon supercede that mantle and Williams was probably as good in his day, Hendry definitely has the edge over Robertson in his break building, but I'd give the safety play to Robertson...so by my reckoning they come out about even. Higgins was never an excellent long potter, just very good, but his tactical play is top tier and so is his break building. I think where Robertson is not quite as good as the old stars as Hendry, O'Sullivan, Williams and Higgins is in the break building department, and that's a fluency issue; he seems to take a little while to get his rhythm going, I partially think that has to do with his late development, since that seems to me to be the most instinctive part of the game.
Hang on, wheres the big surprise here, Hendry 7 times world champion - Robertson 1 times world champion when higgins was banned, ding was homesick, O'Sullivan was gonna retire,,, Yeah right, what a surprise. Only person who isn't surprised is Hendry by sounds.
He won the world title when the best players were not in it. Are you really this stupid? Was that the year of the players' strike then? My god, you really are struggling - He reached the semi-final the year before also. Were the other players on holiday that year too? Anyway, this article is about Stephen Hendry's win. Fair play to him and I hope he goes on and beats Allen too. It would be nice to see him make a 1/4 final or a semi-final. I'm not an O' Sullivan fan because of his moaning, egotistical and self-indulgent manner but he is one of the favourites now and is playing well but if he plays Trump or Murphy, it'll be back home for Ronnie.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so he's had a good season, and he won the world champioship when all the best players werent in it, so what, big deal, hendry just sent him home, live with it,
matthew.gachon. Good comment. I'm not saying he is the second coming or anything like that. He's not as good as Higgins, Ronnie or Hendry when they were in their pomp (I'd omit Davis because I think Robertson would have beaten Davis in his pomp - it's only subjective but basically a lot of current players could have beaten Davis in his pomp. That's no slur on davis because he did what was needed in his era but a player with Robertson's style could have cleaned up in that era but again, all this is hypothetical). Neil is nowhere near as consistent on the long pots as he used to be anyway Edward yet he has still been amongst the best players this season again. Masters champ and 2 PTC's. He's not old at 30 but I think things slightly wane at that point. He misses the odd long pot that he was not missing three of four years back. I just think disrespectful comments like plastic champion and one-dimensional are a bit dumb for someone who has won seven major televised finals out of seven played and has been world number one. You cannot do this if your one-dimensional or plastic. I'd say you have to be a bit special to have that kind of record.
@edward, seriously, you speak from a claim of knowledge about the game, but frankly, you're mistaken. Robertson has recently been acknowledged by many of the Eurosport commentators and top players as having one of the most complete games out there. Some have even gone so far as to say that he has taken over from Higgins as having the most complete game. Imo, only Selby, Murphy, and Ding compete with him for the next 'hardest match player to come along'. He is not just a long potter, as has been noted almost constantly in commentary, he is a proficient break builder, excellent safety player, and an excellent long potter. He is probably the smoothest cueist in the game, his cue action is truly superb, compact yet fluid, consistent and totally straight. Hey, but don't take my word for it, why not read Mark Williams twitter to read him say the exact same thing? Seven finals out of seven...of the (semi) new generation of players, he has the most impressive record.
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