Hendry's great escape

Seven-time world champion battles into round two in Shanghai

Last updated: 8th September 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hendry's great escape

Hendry: Brilliant comeback

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Stephen Hendry came from 4-0 down to beat Marcus Campbell 5-4 in the first round of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday.

Seven-time world champion Hendry was staring down the barrel as Campbell took all four frames before the interval, although his highest break of just 65 illustrated the scrappy nature of the snooker.

Hendry, however, responded with breaks of 78 and 81 to come storming back with three frames on the spin himself to reduce the gap down to 4-3.

Even then he was looking at defeat as Campbell opened a 57-0 lead in the eighth frame, only to get out of jail yet again with a run of 68 to draw level at 4-4.

Hendry completed the comeback by taking the decider and will play defending champion Ricky Walden in the second round.

King dethroned

Flintshire potter Walden beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in last year's final and his title defence got off to a great start with a comprehensive 5-1 win over Mark King.

Welshman Ryan Day also advanced with a tense 5-3 win over Li Yan.

The Welshman started brilliantly with a break of 111 in the very first frame but Chinese qualifier Li took three in a row to lead at 3-2.

Day reasserted his authority with a break of 71 to level before winning a scrappy seventh frame and stealing the eighth after his opponent broke down on 59.

Hong Kong's Marco Fu was pushed all the way by former Crucible finalist Nigel Bond before prevailing in the final-frame decider for a 5-4 triumph.

Selby sunk

In the afternoon session, world number seven Mark Selby suffered a surprise 5-3 defeat against fellow Englishman Stuart Bingham.

The opening four frames were shared but Bingham rolled in breaks of 101 and 48 after the interval to take control at 4-2.

Selby kept the match alive by taking the seventh frame with a run of 60 but Bingham closed out the victory in the next.

Scotland's John Higgins, playing in a ranking event for the first time his world championship triumph in May, secured a regulation 5-2 success over England's Matthew Selt.

Home favourite Liang Wenbo eased past an out-of-sorts Peter Ebdon for a 5-1 win, while Irishman Ken Doherty edged out Australian Neil Robertson.