Hendry bid hangs by a thread

Stephen Hendry’s bid to equal Steve Davis’ record of six Maplin UK Championship titles hangs by a thread after a disastrous opening session against Mark Allen at Telford.

The seven-time world champion resumes his best-of-17 frame encounter with prospect Allen trailing 6-2.

Allen, a semi-finalist at last month’s Northern Ireland trophy, needs just three more frames to qualify for the last 16 of the game’s second most prestigious ranking tournament.

Hendry, who won the last of his five UK titles in 1996, shared the first two frames.

But Antrim’s Allen, who opened with a 61 break, added further runs of 80, 88, 79 and 66 to establish a 6-1 advantage.

Hendry, runner-up to Peter Ebdon at last year’s UK Championship, gave himself some hope with an eighth frame contribution of 104.

Two former UK winners, Stephen Maguire and Mark Williams, are in better shape going into the final evening session.

Maguire, who captured the Northern Ireland title at the expense of Fergal O’Brien, leads Allen’s compatriot Joe Swail 6-2.

The Glaswegian professional, a 10-1 victor over David Gray in the 2004 UK final, produced runs of 122 and 120 while establishing a 4-0 lead.

Twice Crucible Theatre semi-finalist Swail hit back with runs of 94 and 64.

But Maguire fired in 97 to go 5-2 ahead and then won a scrappy eighth frame to leave himself with a welcome three-frame cushion.

Welshman Williams, the 1999 and 2002 UK champion, gained a handsome 7-1 lead over qualifier Ricky Walden.

The two-time world champion has plunged down the world rankings in recent seasons.

But he rolled back the years to stand on the verge of the second round.

Dubliner Ken Doherty, a three-time UK runner-up, shared the opening session at 4-4 with 1995 world championship finalist Nigel Bond.