Scotland’s Stephen Hendry beats Martin Gould in Round 1 of 2012 China Open
Former seven-time World Snooker Champion, Scotland’s Stephen Hendry had a superb start at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium and surged into the second round of the 2012 China Open snooker tournament after beating England’s Martin Gould in the forts
round by the score line of 5-4. The Scotsman had a close encounter with the Englishman but managed to win the match in the end.
The clash was quite tussling from the start as the pair went neck-to-neck from the beginning. The Golden Boy kept his cool during the game and played consistently taking advantage of Gould’s mistakes. The Englishman, on the other hand, had a couple of great
opportunities to steal the victory but he failed to cash them and tumbled down in the end.
The Ice Man fired some outstanding knocks of 135, 86 and 68 to hit the winning spot in the match. He nudged down Gould in the first session but he pulled level at 3-3 after a classy come back and dragged the game into a decisive frame. The final frame finished
in favour of Hendry and he successfully cleared the table in no time to win the match and surge into the second round.
Speaking to the World Snooker after winning his match, Hendry said, “It was a very good match, I enjoyed it very much, it was exciting. In the final frame there were many times I thought I was going to lose. I even took my cue apart because I thought I was
going to lose. So I'm very happy and excited to win the match.”
The Wonder Brain added, “I have achieved everything in the sport, but my last ambition is to win a competition in China.”
The Scot will next meet the former World Snooker Championship winner, Australia’s Neil Robertson in the second round at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium. Both Hendry and Robertson have played against each other a few times before. As far as the
head-to-head stats are concerned, Robertson has a lot of advantage over Hendry because he has won more matches than Hendry. The second round clash will be another thriller between the pair.
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