Hendry hammers Aussie

Hendry: Southampton star

LIVE ON SKY SPORTS

Premier League Snooker
October 1 - Colchester
Judd Trump v Marco Fu
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Neil Robertson
Live on Sky Sports 1 from 7.30pm

Also see

• Snooker Schedule
• World Rankings
• Snooker DVDs

Snooker legend back on song with thumping win over Australian

Stephen Hendry got off the mark in this seasons Premier League with a 5-1 demolition of Neil Robertson in Southampton, while John Higgins went to the top of the table with a 3-3 draw against Marco Fu.

Hendry lost his opening match of the Premier League to teenager Judd Trump despite taking a 2-0 lead, but after gaining the same advantage he this time made no mistake.

The seven-time world champion moved into a 2-0 lead with two half-century breaks, but Australian left-hander Robertson hit back to half the deficit.

A second scrappy frame in a row this time went the way of six-time Premier League champion Hendry after both players had looked disjointed both in potting and in their safety play.

Hendry sealed the win by taking the fifth frame after Robertson missed an easy green, and the veteran Scot saved the best to last when he rolled in a superb break of 127 to cap a 5-1 victory.

Pleased

"I'm very pleased," Hendry said on Sky Sports 1 after his match.

"At the beginning and the end of the match I played really well, in the middle I played some really bad shots - the type of shots I'm working on that have been troubling me.

"You're 2-0 up you're confident of getting at least a point, the next two frames were quite scrappy but I was confident I could get through it and at least get a point.

"I'm pleased to get a win because if I'd lost my first two matches it would have been hard to come back from that."

Higgins added a 3-3 draw to his opening victory to go to the top of the Premier League table after a scrappy encounter.

Fightback

The current world champion went ahead three times but every time Hong Kong potter Fu dug in to eventually grind out what could be a valuable point.

Fu came from 39 points behind to win the fourth frame to level the match at 2-2, before Higgins sealed at least a point with a rare fluent break to go 3-2 up.

Fu missed a black off the spot in the last, but got back on the table again only to miss the final pink and Higgins responded with a superb snooker.

However, Fu got out of jail,and potted the pink he needed to fend off the defeat and grab a 3-3 draw.