Hendry claims sixth Masters

WORLD snooker number one Stephen Hendry added yet another trophy to his collection when regaining the Benson and Hedges Masters…

WORLD snooker number one Stephen Hendry added yet another trophy to his collection when regaining the Benson and Hedges Masters title at Wembley last night.

Hendry, who won the sport's richest invitation tournament on five successive occasions between 1989 and 1993, became the first man to take the title six times by beating last year's hero Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-5.

It was another polished performance from the 27 year old Scot, who pocketed a first prize of 125,000 plus the £1000 bonus the competition's highest a 144 total clearance against John Higgins in the second round.

Hendry gave a sign of things to come by whitewashing O'Sullivan 108-0 in the first frame thanks to a 71 break, although his vantage was short lived.

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A long red helped O'Sullivan the second frame with a 62 the youngster recovered 19 down to snatch the third with a last red to pink clearance and was looking set to lead 3-1 at the interval.

O'Sullivan was 47 points ahead in the fourth frame when he narrowly failed to pot a tough red to a middle pocket, and Hendry stepped in with a 77 clearance which launched a five frame winning streak.

Although the loss of that frame was disappointing for the 20 year old from Chigwell, it was 1nothing compared with the fifth.

Leading 40-13, O'Sullivan squandered a golden opportunity when somehow missing a simple blue off the spot when in prime position. Hendry responded with 44, took advantage of a terrible safety blunder from O'Sullivan on the last red and moved 3-2 up.