Hendry on target for seventh heaven

Stephen Hendry remained on course to rewrite the history books tonight as he scrapped his way into the semi-finals of the SAGA Insurance Masters.

The record six-time winner deservedly downed former world champion Shaun Murphy 6-3 in their quarter-final showdown at the Wembley Arena, pocketing breaks of 72, 49, 47, 39 and 38 in the process.

However, despite booking his passage and taking himself a step closer winning his first title since winning the Malta Open, the world number one has stressed there are grounds for improvement if he is going to become this year’s champion.

“There were times I didn’t feel good at all at the table. I felt it in the first round of the UK Championship,” said Hendry.

“For some reason I didn’t feel as though as I was cueing well, but I scrapped it out to win the match.

“I don’t think it was probably the match everybody was building it up to be, with lots of big breaks.

“It was quite solid stuff and there was quite a lot of safety, but those are the sort of matches I’ve probably been losing the last two or three years when I haven’t been at my best”

Hendry now plays Chinese prodigy Ding Junhui in the first of tomorrow’s semi-finals following the 19-year-old’s 6-2 win over Stephen Lee.

And the 38-year-old is looking forward to doing battle with the talented teenager, already winner of three ranking events.

“I can’t wait to play him. Hopefully it’s going to be a superb match. I’m really looking forward to playing him,” added Hendry.

“He’s a lovely lad. You’ve got to admire what he does over here.”

Murphy had his moments and from 4-0 behind clawed back to 4-2 with runs of 89 and 40.

Trailing 5-2 and one frame from the exit door, he won a scrappy eighth frame to reduce his arrears again.

But having made 47 in the eighth frame, he had a kick on a mid-range red and Hendry did not miss his chance to progress to the next phase.

“It wasn’t until after the interval that anything really started going for me,” reflected Murphy, last season’s Welsh Open runner-up.

“I played a couple of bad shots and had a bad run of the ball in the first four frames, but Stephen didn’t play magnificently.

“It was more of a case of him picking up on my errors and, in fairness, he did have a lot of the run of the ball.”

Murphy added: “I couldn’t really get into the match because he forced my hand and against someone of Stephen’s class you’ve got to tie them up, or they’ll really turn you over.”