Jamie can't Cope with Selby

Selby: Dramatic victory

I won, it's as simple as that. Snooker is torture at the moment. It's very frustrating

Stephen Hendry
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Mark Selby battled back from 8-4 down to beat Jamie Cope 9-8 in the opening round of the Pukka Pie UK Championship.

Resuming at 4-4, Selby lost four frames on the spin in the second session to stand on the brink of an early exit from the tournament.

However the 26-year-old from Leicester rallied in superb fashion, managing breaks of 67, 101, 57 and 115 to level matters at eight apiece.

In the decider Selby held his nerve with a run of 73 to stun Cope and set up a second-round clash with Stephen Hendy, who beat Steve Davis 9-6.

Snooker legends

The two legends of the sport rolled back the years with some fine potting, Hendry treating the crowd at the Telford International Centre to three centuries.

The Scot, 40, opened up with 115 in the first frame of the contest and then ended the afternoon session with 130, leaving the scores level at 4-4.

Despite not scoring as heavily as his opponent, Davis remained firmly in the hunt when the two players split the first four frames of the evening session, only to then lose the next three on the trot.

A run of 112 secured Hendry a place in the next round, though he was far from a happy man afterwards, admitting; "I won, it's as simple as that. Snooker is torture at the moment. It's very frustrating."

Winning run

Peter Ebdon reached the last 16 by winning all five frames in the second session of his match with Englishman Judd Trump to record a 9-4 result.

Neil Robertson also swept aside his opponent, converting a 5-3 lead against Tom Ford into a 9-3 win, the Australia wrapping things up with a break of 119.

Next up for the man from Down Under will be John Higgins, the world champion having clinched a 9-7 victory over Ricky Walden thanks to a run of 84 in the 16th frame.

Meanwhile, China's Liang Wenbo booked his place in the next round with a 9-3 victory against Ryan Day, while Stuart Bingham set up a showdown with Stephen McGuire in round two with a 9-4 result against Joe Perry.