Selby celebrates Hendry scalp

Mark Selby caused another major upset at this year’s SAGA Insurance Masters after dumping out six-time champion Stephen Hendry.

The Leicester potter, a beaten finalist at last season’s 888.com World Championship in Sheffield, looked to be on his way home as Hendry powered into a 5-3 lead.

But Selby held his nerve under pressure to win three successive frames and earned himself a showdown with another Scot, Stephen Maguire, in the quarter-finals of this season’s £460,000 event at the Wembley Conference Centre.

Selby said: “He’s been a great player, probably the best player to ever come out of snooker, but I’m not complaining. If he’s missing balls then he’s giving me chances.

“As far as wins go, that has to be up there with the best.

“To come here and beat Stephen, who has won the title here six times before, was a big ask for me. But obviously I’ve come through the match, so I’m chuffed to bits.

“It’s like him playing in his own back yard, so I was like a rabbit in headlights to start with, but all the way through the match I felt great, I’m full of confidence at the moment.”

Hendry – the only player to win five successive Masters crowns, won the opening frame before Selby levelled.

Last season’s Crucible finalist then went ahead, but Hendry responded by edging the next frame to make it 2-2 at the mid-session interval.

A break of 60 in the first frame following the resumption saw the world number eight edge 3-2 ahead, before Selby wasted a golden opportunity to level matters after running out of position on the final black ball in the sixth frame.

Hendry potted that black to win the frame by a single point, but his opponent rallied to reduce his arrears to just one frame by winning the next.

However, Hendry then moved up a gear and pocketed a cool 105 break to leave himself needing just one frame for victory.

Selby battled back to 5-4 by winning the ninth frame after both players missed earlier chances, before forcing a decider thanks to breaks of 62 and 49 in the next.

And the world number 11 completed his great escape by winning the decisive 11th frame thanks largely to a break of 41.

Hendry reflected: “People will read into this result and say ’Hendry’s gone’, but I’m too good a player for my form not to come back.

“I’m playing so well, it’s just a matter of time before I’m back. One good win then I’m back!

“Funnily enough, when I needed the chances I didn’t really get any at 5-3 up.

“I had hundreds of chances the frames before that, but when I really needed the chances I never got them.

“I don’t care who else is out, I want to put performances in for myself. At the moment, I’m struggling for confidence on the match table.

“If I was playing like that in practice then I’d give up, but I’m not. It’s only a matter of time before it (my form) comes out.”

Former world champion Peter Ebdon is through to the quarter-finals after a battling 6-4 victory over wildcard Welshman Ryan Day.

Dubai-based Ebdon now locks horns with either Scotland’s Graeme Dott, the 2006 world champion, or Stephen Lee in the next phase on Friday afternoon.

“It’s a very good win for me because Ryan is an excellent player,” reflected the world number six. “He’s good enough to get into the top eight and I see him as a potential world champion.

“It’s also nice because the tournament is being televised in Dubai for the first time. It’s the early hours of the morning there now but Deborah (his wife) and the kids have recorded it so they can watch it tomorrow.”

Despite having competed in the tournament since 1994, Ebdon has never progressed past the semi-final stages.

It comes as little surprise he is keen to reach his first final – and even go on and claim this year’s £150,000 winners cheque.

“I’m just taking this tournament one match at a time, but I must admit that, as a Londoner, to win it would mean everything,” added Ebdon.

“I used to come here as a kid to watch Jimmy White and Steve Davis, so just to play in it is a dream.”

Elsewhere, Hong Kong cueman Marco Fu dumped out veteran Steve Davis.

The world number 27’s 6-2 win at Wembley booked a last-16 showdown with Australian Neil Robertson.