Stevens's late burst stuns Hendry

Snooker Irish MastersMatthew Stevens has only won one ranking tournament in 11 years as a professional, a poor return for a player of such enormous ability.

On the evidence of his 6-5 quarter final win over Stephen Hendry at the Fáilte Ireland Irish Masters, the Welshman might not have to wait too long to win another.

Stevens lifted that title at the UK Championship in November 2003, but apart from reaching the last four at the World Championship, failed to win a match in the following 14 months.

A semi final appearance in the recent Malta Cup was the first sign of revival, and after coming through the early rounds here he started with back to back centuries yesterday.

Hendry's miss on a long red in the opening frame let in Stevens for a break of 101, which he followed by fluking the opening red to launch a 113 in the second.

After Stevens had missed a red to the middle when leading 41-0 in the next, Hendry stepped in with a 78 clearance to the pink, then added breaks of 87 and 133 to lead 3-2. Stevens levelled the contest again with a break of 76, but his long potting was starting to cost him heavily.

Hendry pounced on a missed red to make a winning 98 in the seventh, and then on another to put together 53 in frame eight and move within one of victory.

From there, Stevens closed to 5-4, and after Hendry had missed a routine black in the next frame, the world number six moved in to take it and send the match into a decider.

The decisive moment came when Hendry, leading 30-0, took on a difficult plant on a red. When he missed, Stevens capitalised by rolling a red into the middle and going on to make 76 for frame and match.

"I'm very pleased with the way I'm playing, which makes a change from most of the past year," said the 27-year-old.

"Making a perfect start was probably the worst thing I could do because Stephen loves a challenge. He responded well but I'm pleased with how I hung in at the end," added Stevens.