Hendry through to last 16

Stephen Hendry knocked countryman and practice partner Stephen Maguire out of the Welsh Open today, edging into the last 16 with a 5-4 win.

Three-time winner Hendry found himself in the unfamiliar role of outsider with bookmakers after Maguire’s impressive victory in the UK Championships in November.

The 36-year-old former world champion responded in style to inflict only Maguire’s third defeat in 19 ranking event matches this season.

The first meeting in competition between the pair went down to the wire and Hendry, strongly motivated from the word go, held his nerve with a 69 break after Maguire had failed to sink a do-or-die red early in the all-important ninth frame.

“I knew I had to play well and that focuses your mind,” said Hendry, who has been practising with Maguire at Spencer’s Snooker Centre in Stirling since the younger man’s days as a promising teenager amateur.

“Sometimes you go into your first match in a tournament thinking you can get away with a few mistakes. That’s when you don’t play well and your head’s not there but I know what Stephen is capable of.”

Hendry, who has not captured a world ranking title since the British Open of October 2003, enjoyed the better start.

After firing in breaks of 45 and 73 to secure frame one, Hendry moved 2-1 ahead by stealing the third on the black with a trademark 59 clearance.

Maguire drew level at 2-2 but forced to play with just the faintest touch of side to make a pot possible early in the fifth frame, left the red in the jaws of a top corner pocket.

Having gratefully stepped in with a 76 break to regain the advantage at 3-2, Hendry quickly added the next thanks to a run of 65 for 4-2.

However Maguire then exhibited his fighting qualities by accounting for the seventh frame with a 64 break when Hendry took on and missed a difficult red to a middle pocket.

In the eighth Hendry put together 48 but just when the veteran looked certain to cross the line he missed a relatively straightforward black off its spot and Maguire pounced with a nerveless 65 clearance to carry a contest that lived up to its pre-match billing the full distance.

Maguire could not complete his fightback, though, and later complained about playing conditions.

“I think the two of us were up for it at the start but the table wasn’t good and that made good snooker hard to produce for both of us. The amount of kicks were unreal,” insisted the 23 year-old Glaswegian, who had been attempting to become only the eleventh player to win back to back ranking tournaments.

Hendry agreed that the table was “heavy,” and that positional play was “tricky,” but was more than happy to take his place in the third round against Graeme Dott or Quinten Hann.

“The gamblers were happy as well. I think a lot of them had a bet on me,” said Hendry.

Hendry was not the only former Crucible king to advance. John Parrott, now 40, joined him in the last 16 with a predictably hard fought 5-2 victory over Chris Small.

Parrott’s next opposition will be supplied by Romford left-hander Mark King, who piled on the misery for struggling world number six Matthew Stevens with a 5-4 success.

Welshman Stevens, already down to 10th in the provisional world rankings before his home tournament, has lost all four of his matches this season and has not won a best-of-nine frame encounter for 15 months.