Hendry ahead but not yet safe

In this weekend of hyperbole it has come down to the Welshman and, simply, the Legend. Stephen Hendry has shaken off pithy nicknames, while Mark Williams not yet acquired one. Still, the Scot yesterday demonstrated at the Crucible that legends, at 30, go on, and on.

Taking a 10-6 lead into today's final sessions, Hendry limited the potentially high-scoring Williams to intermittent flourishes to establish a satisfying four-game bulkhead moving into today's final legs.

The early session started perfectly for Hendry, who won the first four frames, Williams reduced to a spectator as the former champion set about building a platform. Typically the hangdog expression of the Welshman remained unchanged, knowing that even Hendry at his best would offer a window of opportunity.

Hendry continued to lengthen his lead, going on to take three out of the first eight frames, sending Williams into the intermission possibly with reverberations of Ken Doherty's first session in the quarter-final ringing in his ears.

Doherty slipped to 7-1 down against Williams, a first-session score from which the Irishman could not recover.

Hendry, the six-times winner, scrambled the first game before crafting a break of 98 for a 2-0 lead. Superior broken play then took Hendry to 3-0 before a 77 break made it 4-0. Williams pulled one back before Hendry dangerously took his advantage to 5-1, a break of 86 ensuring the frame.

Some serious damage limitation then entered the match, with Williams taking the next three frames for 5-3. But the 24-year-old, already a winner of three ranking tournaments this year in Ireland, Wales and Thailand, could not continue that vein as Hendry again surged ahead with breaks of 77 and 132 to take an 8-4 lead.

Williams snatched an error-ridden 13th to stay within three frames before mercilessly capitalising on sloppy Hendry play to drag himself right back to 6-8 in two pivotal frames before again losing momentum, Hendry picking up the last two frames of the day.

Both players had come through semi-finals which offered mesmerising snooker, with Hendry's battle against O'Sullivan probably the best ever seen since the championships moved to the Crucible in 1977.

Eight century breaks, including four in succession in the penultimate session, and O'Sullivan coming to within a pink and a black of a maximum 147 break transcended the normal levels seen at the competition. His slip on the pink in the 23rd frame cost him a possible total of £167,000.

In defeat a wounded and wilful O'Sullivan was withering in his comments on stable companion Hendry, now in line to earn a record seventh crown.

"I don't think Stephen is the player he was. If you put him under pressure he goes and my tip for the world title would be Mark Williams," he said after the match.

Hardly a comment designed to spur Hendry towards the title, but clearly it had little effect on the self-contained Scot. Closer in style to O'Sullivan, the Welshman is a red-hot potter rather than a considered and patient break builder like Hendry.

It took Williams just 50 minutes to gather three frames from John Higgins in the last session to win 17-10 and become the first Welshman since Terry Griffiths, 11 years ago, to reach an Embassy World Championship final.

Although Williams trails 6-10, the match is far from settled. Or as Frank Callan, Hendry's mentor cautiously observed about his man's advantage. "Where there's a ball there's luck."

And with 19 frames remaining, only a fool would write Williams off at this stage - even against a legend.