Veteran Stephen Hendry trounces Australia’s Neil Robertson easily in Round 1: 2012 Welsh Open
Spectators at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales, saw legendary Stephen Hendry in his original class as the Scotsman totally unarmed his opponent from Australia, former World Snooker Champion Neil Robertson. The first-round match-up between Hendry and Robertson seemed a piece of cake for the veteran potter as he cruised with a win over the Aussie cueman by the score line of 4-1.
The Victorian potter, Robertson was considered as one of the favourites to win the Welsh title but all predictions were put to trash by the former seven-time World Snooker Champion, Hendry. The 43-year-old secured an easy initial round win with some classy knocks of 62, 67 and 86 to fly into the second round of the Welsh tournament.
The Golden Boy stormed into a one frame lead by 1-0 at the end of Frame 1 but the 30-year-old Robertson superbly pulled level at 1-1 after he replied with his cracking century-clearance of 135 points. At this point, the Thunder from Down Under was in a strong position and had a psychological advantage over his opponent but Hendry did not let any pressure get on him and continued his game.
The Ice Man, Hendry did not have to push himself too hard to release the pressure that Robertson exerted on him in the second round. The Wonder Brain displayed his snooker genius and swept the table in the next three sets firing a couple of excellent snooker breaks of 67 and 86. He grabbed three straight frames to win the match.
While speaking to World Snooker, Hendry admitted, “I haven't had much success against the top players in the last few years. I just played well, and when you do that you can compete. If you don't, you've got no chance.”
The Great One added, “In the last frame I expected to get the jitters, but I felt really comfortable clearing up, and that pleased me more than anything. The third frame when Neil missed the brown was important. I potted two doubles today, which is more than I've got in the last two years.”
The Edinburgh cueist will next face the winner of the first round contest between Mark Allen and Ken Doherty. Allen and Doherty will go head-to-head on Wednesday, February 15 at the Newport Centre arena.
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