Sheriff of Pottingham on receiving end of in-form Hendry

STEPHEN HENDRY gave himself a night off by trouncing Anthony Hamilton 13-3 with a session to spare to reach the quarter-finals of the Embassy World Championship.

The Scot, title winner a record seven times, is the first man into the last eight, even though his performance peaked with a break of 108 in the match’s opening frame.

His form suffered primarily from then on because it was too easy, the ‘Sheriff of Pottingham’ offering token resistance. When Hendry saw the chance to close out the contest ahead of schedule he gratefully took it.

“In patches I felt good. I potted more long balls than in my first match,” said the world number three, whose quarter-final opponent will be Matthew Stevens or Jimmy White.

“At 9-2 and 10-2 it’s difficult to stay focused and I feel for the crowd.”

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, who was level at 4-4 with Ali Carter after their first session, finished the night 9-7 ahead going into this morning’s final session.

In the other afternoon match, Ken Doherty made a typically sluggish start against Alan McManus to be 3-1 behind at the break. With the next four frames shared, the 1997 victor ended the session 5-3 adrift.