Easy for Hendry as he hammers Milkins

There have been shocks galore at snooker's British Open but Stephen Hendry never looked in danger of swelling the number of big name departures as he sailed into the last 16 at the Brighton Centre tonight.

Hendry, keen to end a trophy famine stretching back to last year’s event when he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in a top quality final, launched his title defence with a 5-1 victory over Gloucester’s Rob Milkins.

With the exception of a scrappy third frame won by Milkins it was a points scoring landslide as Scot fired in breaks of 51, 77 and 46 to build a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.

That soon became 4-1 thanks to a break of 100, Hendry’s 641st century in pro-tournament play, and the end arrived swiftly as a frustrated Milkins conceded the sixth frame with five reds remaining, even though he only trailed by 48 points.

It means that Hendry remains on course for a record fifth British Open success and now meets Ali Carter for an appearance in the quarter-finals.

Hendry is attempting to win his 36th world-ranking event and close the sizeable gap between himself and arch rival O’Sullivan at the top of the provisional ranking list.