SNOOKER/World Championship:Stephen Hendry expressed satisfaction with the "attitude and concentration" that helped him turn 5-1 arrears into an unconvincing 10-7 win over Dave Gilbert, a 500 to 1 outsider, in the World Championship at The Crucible in Sheffield yesterday.
"It's easy to have a good attitude when you're flying but you need it when you're up against it as well," he said. "I doubt that I'd have lost here last year if my attitude had been the same."
The wisdom of Hendry's decision to change cues only three weeks before the championship has been widely questioned but he is adamant that its feel and performance are much more like the one with which he won his seven world titles.
He was forced to abandon that cue when it was broken by airport baggage handlers three years ago.
Encouraged as he may have been, though, by making breaks of 147 and 133 in the second and third frames of his first practice session with the new cue, a top break of 76 and only five other half-centuries in this match emphasised that he was far from bringing that form into the arena.
"I could easily have chucked this match at 5-1 down," said the Scot, "so I'm delighted with the way I dug in and won nine of the next 11 frames. I thought that was a tremendous performance."
Mark Selby, a rising 23-year-old from Leicester on the verge of a top-16 ranking, recovered from 5-0 down to lead Stephen Lee, the number 10 seed, 8-5 and then beat him 10-7.
John Higgins, the 1998 champion who was beaten by Selby here last year, dropped the first two frames to the talented if volatile Michael Holt, stole the third on the black with a 42 clearance and finished the day with a 104 break and a 6-3 lead.
Guardian Service.
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