Snooker Special Report: The ultimate rivalry- Stephen Hendry vs. Ronnie O'Sullivan
Rivalry and enmity within the sport can make the particular sport more alive and fun to watch. As all sports in the world has rivalries and contradistinctions, snooker fans too has observed rivalry between the players in different times.
The most talked and famous rivalry in snooker is that of Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan, before going into the details of their seasoned rivalry a slight introduction of both players is necessary.
Ronnie O’Sullivan – nick-named ‘The Rocket’ Ronnie is famous for his controversies and lightening speed of potting. Ronnie is fast around the green table, with great snooker skills, and a volatile attitude, Ronnie has a huge fan pool.
With three world champion titles under his belt, Ronnie is the second highest prize money winning player. Ronnie has won as many as twenty two ranking events in his career along with twenty three non-ranking titles.
Stephen Hendry – Hendry is known to be the most feared adversary in the sport, as he is astonishingly accurate and destructive. Hendry is a legendary and seasoned cueist; he has maintained his form and dominance successfully over the number
of years.
Hendry has won 36 ranking titles, and can doubtlessly be called the all-time snooker great.
Both the players have dominated the world snooker scene, and their rivalry goes a long way back.
1995 World Championship Quarter-Final – The classic rivalry between the two was born in this tournament and precisely in this very match. Stephen was at the peak of his career and surged his way towards the fourth world title. Stephen was
not willing to let anyone come in his way, as he already defeated Stefan Mazrocis and the Maltese Tony Drago convincingly.
Early in the match, it seemed as if Ronnie will give Hendry some tough test, as he took the opening frames keeping level with Hendry before the end of the first session. However, Hendry came back in a ravishing manner with affirmative breaks of 51, 62, 72
and 62 to gain a three frame lead over Ronnie.
Ronnie is not the kind of a player who would lie down and give it easily, as he fought back by claiming the next two frames. Stephen denied his assault replying with six breaks of score above 80, including some centuries to keep his journey intact with an
emphatic 13-8 win.
1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge – The second encounter in a big final between the two marvellous players, took place in the Liverpool Victoria charity challenge event. This match produced one of the greatest come-backs in the history
of snooker.
The match at one stage was pretty much one sided, as Stephen cruised off to an affirmative lead of 8-2. Ronnie miraculously fought back with a never-say-die attitude to claim the next six frames.
Preventing a player like Stephen from winning a single frame out of six in a row was an achievement, and surely a signal for the crunch times yet to come. Ronnie’s remarkable come-back made him the favourite to appear as the winner.
However, Hendry geared up towards the victory with a marvellous break of 147 in the final frame.
1999 World Championship Semi-Final – As their rivalry was being felt in the snooker world, their encounters started to get more tense and crowd-packed. Stephen dominated the particular enmity between the two, but Ronnie annoyed Stephen with
his stunners and unconquerable will to let go.
In this championship, Hendry had his eyes on the seventh world champion title; accordingly, Stephen opened the match in an astounding manner with a break of 126. Confirming his dominance over Ronnie with further breaks of 82 and 86 Stephen looked unstoppable,
ending the first session with a six to two frames lead.
What followed was a stunning response from Ronnie, as he fought back to level the score-line 6-6 with the help of marvellous breaks of 122 and 135.
As the score-line rose to 7-7, Stephen geared up and took the next three frames. Ronnie once again hit back with breaks of 81 and 84 to once again level the scores 10-10. The next four frames can undoubtedly be called the best bracket of frames ever played
at the Crucible, as Stephen surged ahead with century breaks of 101 and 108 to extend the lead.
Another great fight-back put up by the rocket as he replied with affirmative century scores of 134 and 110, and a break of 70 put Ronnie in the 12-13 lead for the first time in match.
Stephen from this point went onto a total rampage with breaks of 75, 78, 50 and then 86 at last to claim the victory with a 17-13 score-line. However, the match has been a nail-biting contest between the two great cueists.
To be continued..
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