Worry goes on as Hunter waits for surgery results

Paul Hunter can be forgiven for not having his mind entirely on this week’s China Open - he is awaiting the results of a biopsy taken on six cysts on his colon.

“I had keyhole surgery after the Irish Masters earlier this month but when I went back to the hospital the results were inconclusive,” said world number four Hunter, who reached the last 16 of the Beijing event by edging past Ali Carter 5-4.

“It’s preying on my mind because I won’t know the situation until I go home,” he said. “I’m due to see the doctor again next Wednesday. They’ve taken some fluid away from the cysts and they’re testing that at a laboratory.”

Hunter, beaten in nine of his 10 most recent matches, arrived chronically short of practice having been confined to his living-room couch, first by stomach pains, then as he recovered from surgery.

“Thankfully the pain has gone now but I haven’t been able to play much snooker. I’ve just not been mobile enough so this is a big result for me,” added the three-times Benson & Hedges Masters champion.

Hunter, who had four benign cysts removed from his testicles on the run-in to the 2002 World Championship, looked to be heading for another in a long line of recent early defeats when Carter built a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.

A 62 break gave Hunter the fifth frame and renewed confidence before he stole the sixth on a re-spotted black to draw level at 3-3 having needed two snookers with only the colours remaining.

Carter reclaimed the lead at 4-3 but Hunter made a 78 break in the eighth frame before adding the decider thanks to a late contribution of 35 that included an outrageous fluke on a pink.

“When I saw the pink going up the side cushion towards the pocket I thought ‘so what’ because I’ve had so much go against me lately’,” said Hunter, who lost 6-5 to Steve Davis in the first round of the Masters last month as a direct consequence of an equally outlandish Davis fluke on the last red.

Hunter goes forward to face Jimmy White.

Stephen Hendry, winner of the inaugural China Open in 1990 and always well supported on his many visits to the People’s Republic, joined Hunter in the third round by beating Gloucester’s Rob Milkins 5-1.

On the way to his third win over Milkins this season – he also prevailed when they met in the Grand Prix and British Open – Hendry potted well from distance and recorded breaks of 54, 67, 48 and 114.

“It’s always great to come here because I’m one of the favourites with the crowd. In most other places nobody likes me,” said Hendry.

Although he won a mistake-ridden opening frame, Milkins potted only four balls and scored the same number of points in the remainder of the contest.

“I’ve played a lot of snooker since I got here on Saturday. There’s not much on the TV in my hotel room so I’ve been practising out of boredom, I suppose. I felt quite sharp out there,” said Hendry.

The Scot, looking to complete an overseas world-ranking tournament double having triumphed at the Malta Cup in early February, faces promising Welshman Ryan Day, who hammered number 14 seed David Gray 5-1.

Day recovered from the loss of the opening frame with a quartet of half centuries as Gray, woefully out of touch since reaching the UK Championship final in November, crashed to his fifth straight defeat.