Doherty suffers another setback

World Champion Ken Doherty suffered a shock defeat yesterday when, after leading 3-1, he was beaten 5-3 by Swansea's Tony Chappel in the second round of the £350,000 Regal Welsh Open at Newport.

"I played okay early on but then the wheels came off," said Doherty, who with the exception of his success in the Rothman's Malta Grand Prix has endured a miserable time of late.

"I've been practising really hard and putting in an awful lot of work but at the moment that doesn't seem to be paying off."

In another shock, Jamie Burnett sent Stephen Hendry crashing to an unexpected defeat. The little-known 22-year-old Scot proved defeated his countryman 5-4.

It was a case of history repeating itself as Burnett, the world number 38, also beat Hendry at the corresponding stage of the Grand Prix in October.

Six-times world champion Hendry again took the defeat hard and was clearly stunned as the post-match news conference got underway. A number of questions were fired at the game's most powerful force during the 1990s but Hendry failed to respond to any of them.

Burnett won the opening two frames, but when Hendry bounced back with runs of 67, 100, 40 and 85 to establish a 4-2 advantage the possibility of a shock faded.

However, Burnett, confident after reaching the quarter-finals of last month's German Open - his personal best in six years on the professional circuit - refused to throw in the towel.

He comfortably accounted for the next two frames before ensuring a major surprise by stealing a scrappy deciding frame on the blue. Defeat for Hendry leaves the world number one, who captured the Regal Welsh title last year, still searching for his first trophy of the season. In fact, out-of-form Hendry has not added to his collection of silverware since prevailing at the Benson and Hedges Irish Masters last March.