Hendry closes on Crucible

Stephen Hendry was on course to reach the Crucible after earning a 6-3 lead in his qualifier against Yu Delu.

Seven-time world champion makes good progress in qualifying

Stephen Hendry was on course to reach the Crucible after earning a 6-3 lead in his Betfred.com World Championship qualifier against China's Yu Delu. The seven-time former world champion is having to go through qualifying this year for the first time since 1988, after falling outside the top 16 in the rankings. He and Yu will complete their match on Sunday afternoon at Sheffield's English Institute of Sport venue, with Hendry needing four more frames to win the best-of-19 clash. Hendry had a mid-session dip in form which allowed Yu, 24, to fight back from 4-1 to 4-3, but there was a reminder of the 43-year-old Scot's vintage best in the closing two frames as breaks of 129 and 107 carried him into a healthy lead. Belgian 17-year-old Luca Brecel, bidding to become the youngest player to ever reach the World Championship, slipped 5-4 behind in his contest with Essex's Mark King, another match which concludes on Sunday.