Stephen Hendry’s dream of a World Championship return shattered after thrashing by China’s Xu Si
- A 1-6 defeat for Stephen Hendry against China’s Xu Si means the Scot’s dreams of a Crucible return are over for another year
Seven-time world snooker champion Stephen Hendry’s bid for an extraordinary return to the sport’s biggest stage at this year’s Crucible showpiece was denied after the 52-year-old was well beaten by Chinese world No 82 Xu Si in Sheffield on Wednesday night.
The pair met in the second round of World Championship qualifying after Hendry defeated old foe Jimmy White 6-3 in an uninspiring match earlier this week in the first of four preliminary rounds before the competition’s first round proper, which is scheduled to begin on Saturday April 17.
Xu, ranked just one place higher than White in the world standings, played a splendid match, racking up five half-centuries on his way to dumping the Scot of the reckoning. Hendry, in stark contrast, admitted he “didn’t contribute anything to the match”.
Hendry took the opening frame in the best-of-11 clash, and drained a break of 49 on his way to building a 53-point lead in the second before Xu fought back and began a run of form that would see Hendry, a tournament winner on no fewer than 36 occasions during a glittering career, dumped out at the second hurdle.
Using the momentum of his stirring comeback in frame two, 23-year-old Xu built breaks of 75, 79, 51, 66 and 72 on his way to a resounding victory.
