Hendry sneaks past Cope

Stephen Hendry survived a deciding-frame finish against qualifier Jamie Cope to clinch his place in the quarter-finals of the Star Group China Open in Beijing today.

Hendry looked set for a shock exit when he trailed Cope 3-1, but he recovered to edge through a 5-4 winner.

Cope, the world number 86 from Stoke, had the first chance in the decider but missed a black and split the pack of reds in the process.

Hendry suffered a kick on the black on 38 and left Cope a tricky red. But he missed, and the Scot did enough to get over the line.

“I was solid enough but struggled to get the win,” said Hendry, who won the first ranking event staged in China 16 years ago.

“Jamie doesn’t look like he has a care in the world when he’s at the table, so I thought my chance might be over.”

Cope, who beat Alan McManus in the previous round, potted blue and pink to win the fourth frame.

Runs of 41 and 72 helped Hendry recover to 4-3, before Cope’s own 72 made it 4-4.

Hendry faces his close friend Mark Williams, a 5-0 winner over Scott MacKenzie, for a place in the semi-finals.

Defending champion Ding Jun Hui compiled the highest break of the tournament so far as he defeated Glasgow’s Graeme Dott 5-2.

Cheered on by a huge crowd at the University Gymnasium, Ding claimed the opening frame with a superb 135 clearance.

The 18-year-old from the Jiangsu Province cruised 3-0 ahead before Dott’s 59 helped the world number 13 stave off a whitewash.

Ding made 94 to extend his lead to 4-1, and although Dott impressed with a 120 to win the sixth, the Chinese prodigy could not be stopped and clinched victory a frame later.

Ding’s 9-5 victory over Hendry in last year’s final was watched by 110 million TV viewers, making it the most viewed sporting event of the year in China.

It helped secure six-figure sponsorship for this season’s tournament and raised the popularity of the game in the snooker-mad country still further.

Belfast’s Joe Swail completed this year’s quarter-final line up with a 5-3 victory over Derby’s David Roe.