STEPHEN Hendry suffered his first-ever session whitewash at the 888.com World Snooker Championships yesterday as Ronnie O'Sullivan won all eight afternoon frames on his way to opening up a 15-6 lead in their semi-final clash.
Seven-times world cha
mpion Hendry has inflicted similar punishment during his distinguished career at snooker's premier tournament to Terry Griffiths (1992), Jimmy White (1992) and Danny Fowler (1993).
But this was the first time he had been on the receiving end of the same treatment as O'Sullivan moved to within five frames of clinching his place in the final in the best-of-33 showdown.
Hendry had his opportunities in the early part of the session and could conceivably have won the opening three frames.
But the Scot failed to make the most of those opportunities and paid a heavy price with O'Sullivan at one stage scoring 448 points without reply.
The Rocket, who defeated Hendry 17-4 in their last world championship meeting in the 2004 semi-finals, compiled two centuries and five other 50-plus breaks.
The tone was set in the opening frame of the day when Hendry missed a red which he left over a corner pocket and O'Sullivan cashed in with a 93 break to take the lead for the first time.
Hendry was again first among the balls in the next with a 53 and then O'Sullivan responded with a 44 before missing the final blue only to snooker his opponent behind the pink.
Hendry tried to pot the blue via a cushion but failed to make contact and, with the ball hanging over the black pocket, O'Sullivan cleared up.
It was a similar scenario in the next with Hendry putting together a 35 and O'Sullivan replying with 57 before laying a snooker on the final red.
Hendry escaped at the second attempt but O'Sullivan again took advantage.
The final frame before the interval was more clear-cut with O'Sullivan's 87 break settling the issue after a superb long red had set him on his way.
After the break, O'Sullivan really turned on the style with a 133 clearance in frame 13 and a 135 in the next.
Hendry finally got some points back on the scoreboard in frame 15 after O'Sullivan's scoring blitz but an 85 stretched his lead to 11-4.
The 39-year-old tried hard to avoid the whitewash and led 44-0 in the final frame but he let O'Sullivan back in with a 70 which left him needing snookers.
O'Sullivan then began the evening in the same vein, making it 12 frames on the bounce, but in the next Hendry ended that losing streak with an 85 after an excellent opening pot.
Hendry was first amongst the balls in the 19th frame with a 54 and, after O'Sullivan had missed a blue at pace, he cleared up sufficiently with a 46 to pull another one back.
But O'Sullivan crept nearer to the finishing line with runs of 68 and 123 in the next two frames.
Ali Carter dominated the second session of his semi-final against Joe Perry to open up a 9-7 lead.
Perry had taken advantage of a below-par performance in a tense opening session from Carter, who would have been relatively happy to be trailing only 5-3 overnight.
But it was a different story when the match recommenced, 28-year-old Carter winning six of the eight frames as Perry, 33, struggled to find his best form for lengthy periods.
A break of 41 put Carter in command of the opening frame before he ran out of position. Perry had the opportunity to snatch it but missed the final red into the middle pocket.
Perry paid the penalty in the next for missing a black off its spot after a run of 57 only for Carter to break down on 51 when failing to pot a similarly-straightforward pink.
A superb final pink into the yellow pocket enabled Carter to pinch the frame and draw level – and he never looked back.
Carter won his sixth frame on the trot, with a run of 64 leaving Perry needing snookers but the Cambridgeshire potter finally halted the slump in frame 14.
Carter had the last word, however, with an impressive break of 128 – the 58th of the 2008 tournament.
The full article contains 739 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
