Stevens ousts Hendry

By Geet Sethi

SHEFFIELD, MAY 2. Stephen Hendry's 13-5 elimination from the quarterfinals of the Embassy World snooker championship has raised serious doubts about the former seven times World champion's longevity in the sport. Outclassed and outplayed in every department of the game, he has for the first time in his recent career, gone through an entire season without a tournament victory.

It was not the defeat to Mathew Stevens that was unexpected but the manner in which he failed to respond to the demands of modern snooker and his young opponent's unrelenting scoring, which is the cause for concern. At 32, Hendry is the oldest competitor in the tournament after the elimination of John Parrott (36 years).

An entire decade has passed by since he took over from Steve Davis and Hendry is coming to terms with the changing patterns and evolution in the game's top order. Certainly, he realises that he no longer poses a threat to today's younger cueists, a fact that has been confirmed by his surprising first round defeats at the Crucible Theatre in 1998 & 2000. He had dominated the sport in the nineties, winning 32 ranking tournaments, a record seven world titles and notched up an unassailable 533 centuries prior to his eagerly awaited test against Stevens.

He had admitted playing well below par in his opening match against Mark Davis but had made amends against Paul Hunter, a 23- year-old talent who was being tipped as the man to upset Hendry. One had noticed the same robotic efficiency and focus, which had enabled him to win seven times here at the Crucible. He had crushed Hunter 13-5, and provided some indication of a possible return to form. Against Stevens, the world no. 6 however, it all fell apart. ``There is something in my game which is not right and which I need to sort out,'' he said after the humiliating reversal. Indeed there was a lot wrong with the game on Monday night and Tuesday as the world no.3 missed routine blacks off the spot and failed to find the accuracy in his long pots.

And Stevens used every opportunity, every missed pot and every inaccurate safety to compile frame-winning breaks. It was an excellent performance by Stevens, who lost 18-16 in the final here last here. The sequence of carefully compiled contributions of 56, 43, 87, 56, 65, 58, 134, 43, 54, 59, 42 & 61 was complimented with astute safety play. Hendry admitted later `` he outplayed me in every department of the game''.

Stevens has gone through the personal trauma of losing his father a few months ago, a trauma that had severely affected his performance on the circuit. He came to Sheffield with his confidence shattered by losing seven matches, all on the deciding frames, having reached only three quarterfinals. Yet, his transformation has been miraculous. He has lost only eleven frames in reaching the semi final, a feat achieved by only a select few like Hendry and Davis in the past. His 10-1 & 13-5 victories over Tony Drago and Anthony Hamilton respectively, may not have raised any eyebrows, but scoring an emphatic 13-5 win over the games most respected cueist firmly places him as the strongest contender for the title after Ronnie O'Sullivan.

* Quarterfinal results: Mathew Stevens bt Stephen Hendry 13-5 (84(56)-41, 18-92(57), 79-54, 87(87)-7, 70(56)-8, 71(65)-22, 0- 106(106), 62(58)-25, 134(134)-8, 38-80(79), 74-0, 70(54)-33, 64- 30, 7- 84(83), 85(59)-43, 1-68, 66-31, 70(61)-10).

Ronnie O'Sullivan bt Peter Ebdon 13-6. (6-108(69), 77(57)-0, 4- 104(101), 82(82)-6, 67-8, 60-61, 0-98(98), 112(108)- 0, 83(67)- 44, 89(89)-5, 69(54)-1, 70-59(54), 119(65,50)-0, 72(72)-64(64), 77(57)-50(50), 83(54)-44, 12-108(59), 4-67(52), 70(55)-32).

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