Stephen Hendry came back from 7-5 down against Mark Williams to pick up the next 5 consecutive frames and step into round 2 with a 10-7 victory.
Williams who I had earlier in the week predicted may be an outsider for the title had a damaged tip that meant the mid-session interval being taken early. He came back from the break and did not win a frame.
Another former World Champion, Graeme Dott, who like Hendry trailed 5-4 overnight to Barry Hawkins also fought well to win his match 10-8.
Today’s matches started with Mark Allen against Martin Gould, Allen led 7-2 overnight after a masterful performance. There was a hint of a comeback from Gould (a debutant at the Crucible) this morning and he will have given himslef a boost after it could have easily been a different story. Allen is through to play Ronnie O’Sullivan in the next round with a 10-5 win.
Monday’s Play
14.30
- Mark Selby 6 v 3 Ricky Walden
- Ding Junhui v Liang Wenbo
19.00
- Joe Perry v Jamie Cope
- Marco Fu 5 v 4 Joe Swail
Live Snooker coverage continues on the BBC, BBC Interactive (& online), Eurosport and Eurosport Player.
