Rocket steams ahead in one of baize's great rivalries

DERBY DAYS: SNOOKER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry have been involved in some of the game's greatest moments since the early 90s writes DAMIAN CULLEN

Stephen Hendry v Ronnie O’Sullivan

FOR RAW talent, one is the undisputed king of baize. But for consistency, and the sheer size of his trophy cabinet, the other is master of the cue.

In 1993, a 17-year-old English man (who had defeated Ken Doherty 9-5 in the first round) qualified for the UK Championship final. There, Ronnie O’Sullivan came up against the hottest ticket in snooker at the time – the world number one and reigning World Championship title-holder Stephen Hendry. The world number 57 won, 10-6.

It was the first of many duels between two giants of the game.

The 1993 result, however, was no changing of the guard. A young Hendry was still very much on an upward trajectory and the pair met again two years later in the quarter-finals of the World Championship.

In the best-of-25 frames, the Rocket kept pace with Hendry in the early sessions, before the three-time world champion reeled off breaks of 97, 103, 86, 88, 84 and 133 to claim a 13-8 victory.

O’Sullivan’s seemingly inevitable march to the head of the table was checked and when they met again in the semi-finals of the 1999 World Championship Hendry was now in search of a seventh title. O’Sullivan was still seeking his first.

That game is one of the highest quality games of snooker ever witnessed at the sport’s premier tournament.

Beginning with a break of 126, Hendry quickly moved to a 6-2 lead, before the Essex Exocet responded with breaks of 122 and 135. The game eventually hung in the balance at 10 frames each, before two more century breaks from Hendry tipped the balance.

O’Sullivan then missed the chance of a maximum break (ending at 134 when he missed the pink) and then hit 110 to level again at 12-12. It was sensational snooker from two players at the peak of their powers.

Hendry eventually edged the game, but while the clash was extraordinary for its quality, it didn’t have the incredible twist that had occurred in an earlier charity match in Liverpool.

The Scot had raced into a 8-2 lead in the first-to-nine tie, only for O’Sullivan to claim the following six frames. After apparently snookering Hendry at the start of the final frame, the Ice Man from Edinburgh stepped up to record the fourth maximum break of his career.

While their rivalry was confined to the snooker table in the 1990s, it has had a decidedly more bitter taste this decade.

In 2001, in the Irish Masters final, O’Sullivan defeated his great adversary 9-8, but only after an enthralling match in which Hendry recovered from losing the first four frames to lead 8-7.

Two months later, O’Sullivan claimed his first World Championship title and before his semi-final meeting with Hendry in the following season’s tournament the Englishman told reporters: “I want to send him back to his sad little life.”

It was not a statement commonly heard within the world of professional snooker – at least not in the 21st century – and Hendry did not take kindly to the remark. As in their 1999 clash, the quality of the clash was stunning, and the two were locked at 6-6 and 12-12 before Hendry eventually took full control of the last session to claim a 17-13 victory.

The following year the two met again in the British Open final, which featured a remarkable run of five consecutive century breaks, and another win for Hendry.

But since then the professional careers of the players have gone in different directions.

The pair have met in the World Championship on two occasions in recent seasons – in 2004, when O’Sullivan demolished Hendry 17-4, and last year, when O’Sullivan again eased to a 17-6 victory.

“That’s the best snooker, and safety, I’ve ever seen,” said a magnanimous Hendry after missing out on a place at the 2008 World Championship final. “I’ve never been so comprehensively outplayed in my career.”

Hendry did beat O’Sullivan between those meetings, gaining a 9-1 victory in the quarter-finals of the 2006 UK Championship.

It was a bizarre game with the controversial O’Sullivan at one stage conceding the match and walking out apparently because he didn’t feel in the mood to carry on (it’s worth watching if only for the reaction of Hendry, the officials and the BBC commentators at www.youtube. com/watch?v=JYjIV54egio).

When he is in the mood, however, no one that can get close to him. Not even Hendry. At least, not lately. Hendry is now 40, and is struggling to produce his best snooker on a consistent basis. For the rivals to meet in this season’s tournament both would have to reach the final. O’Sullivan is tipped to make it. Hendry is not.

Hendry was recently rated the greatest ever snooker player in the book Master of the Baize, which placed the Edinburgh player ahead of Joe Davis, Steve Davis and Alex Higgins, with Ronnie O’Sullivan coming in next at five.

On current form, however, the Rocket is in prime position. On Saturday, O’Sullivan beat Stuart Bingham and now faces Mark Allen for a place in the quarter-finals. Also at the weekend, Hendry came from 7-5 down to record a 10-7 victory over Mark Williams. He now faces Ding Junhui, who beat Liang Wenbo yesterday in the next round. While the meeting of the two Chinese players may have passed most in Europe by, it was, reportedly, watched by more than 100 million in China.

Perhaps the regularly reported demise of professional snooker is premature. Perhaps the same could be said for Stephen Hendry.