Hendry wins thriller but Davis bows out

STEVE DAVIS could have played his last match at the Crucible after losing to Stuart Bingham in the first round of the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield.

Davis threatened to pull off a remarkable fightback when he recovered from 8-3 down to level the match at 8-8, only for qualifier Bingham to claim the next two frames and seal a nerve-racking 10-8 victory.

Six-time champion Davis has now won just one match in the last three years at the Crucible and, by dropping out of the top 16 in the world at the end of the season, is faced with the prospect of qualifying for tournaments.

“It’s a bit annoying, I felt as if I let it slip,” said the 50-year-old.

“After getting back into the match and playing decent it’s a bitter pill to then mess up a couple of golden opportunities in the last two frames.”

Meanwhile, seven-time champion Stephen Hendry last night hailed his greatest ever first round victory in 23 visits to the Crucible.

Hendry staged a superb fightback to beat Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen in a thrilling clash, winning the last three frames to seal a 10-9 win.

The Scot, who lost 9-4 to Allen in the UK Championship in December, will play either China’s Ding Junhui or Hong Kong’s Marco Fu in last 16.

Allen was in tears after letting such a famous win slip through his grasp, the 22-year-old being just two pots away from victory in the 18th frame and then going in-off when potting the opening red in the decider.

A delighted Hendry said: “It’s probably the greatest first round match I’ve ever won in all the years I’ve been coming here.

“I was up against it the whole time, I felt outplayed a lot of the time and just hung in there basically and refused to go down.”

The 39-year-old admitted winning the first frame today after needing two snookers was crucial.

“I almost never got out of my chair,” added Hendry, who made his Crucible debut in 1986, the year Allen was born. “But something inside me told me to get up and thankfully I did.

“I’ve got to take confidence from a win like this, to be up against it all the way and come through in the end, and to win the last frame in style in one visit is very pleasing.”

Earlier in the day, Wales’ Ryan Day booked a second-round clash with defending champion John Higgins with a 10-6 victory over Ireland’s Michael Judge.