GLOBAL SNOOKER NEWS

Stephen Hendry scraped into round two of the Totesport Grand Prix in Preston, but he was pushed right to the wire by fellow Scot Jamie Burnett, nearly tripping over it several times in a scrappy match.

The Scot started brightly enough with a break of 84, missing the brown for a possible century.

Hendry broke down in frame two and Burnett compiled 51 but eventually only won the frame after Hendry potted the black but went in off.

The Seven times World Champion could be forgiven for thinking that perhaps it wasn't his day, when, in frame three, Burnett fluked no fewer than three balls on his way to taking the lead.

Hendry took both frames either side of the interval, but lost frame six on the black and then fell behind to Burnett's best effort of the match, 78.

With an early defeat beckoning Hendry produced a characteristic 52 to stay in the match and then dominated the decider with breaks of 47 and 56.

Another Scot, Drew Henry lost the a final frame decider to Leo Fernandez. Henry led 3-1 thanks to a run of 76 in the third. But after the interval Fernandez won three frames on the spin with breaks of 86 and 56.

Henry kept his hopes alive, running in 75 to draw level, but a thirty-seven minute final frame eventually went to Fernandez on the colours.

Gerard Greene was the second seed of the day to lose.  He could find no answer to a solid performance from Nigel Bond, who won 5-2 in a low scoring match.

Jimmy White was similarly tested by Patrick Wallace before clinching a final frame victory. White, suffering from a bad back, opened a 3-1 interval lead, but then had to sit out a Wallace revival.

A break of  95 reduced Wallace's arrears and he rattled off the next two frames as well to lead 4-3. Amidst vociferous support from a noisy section of the crowd, White drew level and held the upper hand throughout the decider.

Steve Davis look a bit ring rusty at the start of his match against Grimsby's Sean Storey, who rattled in 63 to take the opener. But unaccountably Storey started to miss his chances and Davis grew in confidence.

He gained a 3-1 lead at the interval, then produced his best break of the match, 73 to lead 4-1 and closed out the match comfortably in the sixth frame.

Peter Ebdon, Stephen Lee, Marco Fu and Anthony Hamilton all won 5-2, without ever hitting the heights. Ebdon compiled breaks of 75, 61 and 52 to see off a determined Simon Bedford.

Lee opened a 4-0 lead over Hugh Abernethy, but had to sit out a two frame revival before clinching the seventh on the colours.

Hamilton lost the opener to Jimmy Michie, but gained a 3-1 lead thanks to a run of 89. He stretched that to 4-1, lost the next before sealing his win.

Fu led 2-0 against David Roe courtesy of breaks of 41 and 59, but found himself level at 2-2 as Roe chipped in with 28 and 36 to take the third, and 39 and 36 in the fourth.

Breaks of 42 and 91 gave Fu the fifth and a run of 55 stretched his lead and he held on in a close seventh to book his round two place.

Tony Drago recovered from a 3-0 deficit against Jin Long from China. Long constructed breaks of 36, 51 and 48 to open a gap, but Drago responded with 46, 44 and 74 to rattle up five frames in under an hour.

RESOURCES

2004 GRAND PRIX

INFORMATION

PHOTOS

TOTESPORT

RESULTS

Frame Scores:

Stephen Hendry 5-4 Jamie Burnett

86(84)-10, 62-73, 46-55, 58-42, 65(52)-14, 54-55, 12-82(78), 72(52)-53(53), 121(47,56)-0

Peter Ebdon 5-2 Simon Bedford

112(75)-6, 41-72(59), 81-53, 68(61)-56(50), 8-63(47), 56(52)-20, 71(40)-38

Tony Drago 5-3 Jin Long

0-85, 44-68(41), 11-68(48), 65(46)-33, 80(44)-2, 67-19, 79-40, 75(74)-8

Nigel Bond 5-2 Gerard Greene

71-46, 71(34,33)-12, 27-59(31), 69(42)-44, 27-68, 80-0, 47-37

Marco Fu 5-2 David Roe

56-11, 101(41,59)-0, 0-78, 0-81, 133(42,91)-0, 71(55)-42(33), 74-49

Leo Fernandez 5-4 Drew Henry

14-58, 71-41, 0-80(76), 1-72, 68-22, 86(86)-0, 76(56)-0, 10-79(79), 65-45

Stephen Lee 5-2 Hugh Abernethy

67-28, 68-36, 92-1, 72-25, 40-75, 63-68, 68-39

Anthony Hamilton 5-2 Jimmy Michie

15-98, 68-44, 85-58, 89(89)-21, 93-4, 36-61, 67-43

Steve Davis 5-1 Sean Storey

6-89(63), 51-24, 78-22, 79-32, 86(73)-22, 80-32

Jimmy White 5-4 Patrick Wallace

0-93, 74-13, 48-39, 72-1, 15-95(95), 11-104, 13-72, 74-35, 68-12