World Championship Day 8

Stephen Hendry cruised into the Quarter-Finals with a 13-4
win over defending champion John Higgins

Stephen Hendry confirmed his place in the Quarter Finals by taking the only frame he needed at first asking to knock out defending champion John Higgins. Hendry led 12-4 after the first session and the seven time world champion ended the struggling Higgins challenge to win 13-4. Also through to the last 8 is fellow Scot Stephen Maguire who defeated Joe Perry by 13 frames to 7. Maguire was already 11-5 ahead following the two sessions on Friday and despite Perry taking the opening two frames of Saturday’s session, Maguire took the next two frames needed to seal his progress into the next round.

Ryan Day was pegged back in his second round match against Cao Yupeng but went onto win 13-7. Day was 6-2 ahead after the opening session yesterday but Cao took the first three frames of the session to reduce his arias to one frame however the Pontycrimmer Potter won the next before the interval to make it 7-5. Cao won the thirteenth with Day winning the next two to re-establish his healthy lead but the Chinese won the last frame of the session to give him a shout in the final session, 9-7 down. However the Welshman took four frames on the bounce in the evening’s final session to take the win including breaks of 113 and 119.

Ronnie O’Sullivan took a slim advantage over Mark Williams at the end of their first session. The Welsh Potting Machine took the first frame but Ronnie won the next two to go ahead however Williams pounced on a missed pink to snatch the frame from O’Sullivan’s hands to go in level at the interval. The Welshman took the fifth to go ahead again but Ronnie won three frames on the bounce to close the session 5-3 up. Ali Carter also led Judd Trump by the same scoreline in the opening stages of their match. The Captain won the first but Trump won the next three to go in ahead at the interval. However Carter won four on the spin to go into Sunday’s second session narrowly ahead.