Hendry on brink of exit

Stephen Hendry
12 April 2012

Stephen Hendry looked to be heading out of the Betfred.com World Championship on Monday as he fell 11-5 behind in his second-round clash with Mark Selby.

The players went into Monday's play all square at 4-4 but Hendry was reduced to the role of spectator for most of the session as Selby dominated and won seven of the eight frames played. The 41-year-old Scot could hardly bear to watch at times but nevertheless congratulated Selby on his performance as the session ended.

Already a two-time Masters champion, Selby has been strongly backed for the world title and his performance confirmed he has brought with him to the Crucible the form which saw him reach the 2007 final.

The 26-year-old from Leicester made breaks of 96, 62, 117, 99 and 72, and with only two more frames required he was well set to clinch an early victory in the closing session.

It was much closer on the other table, where Shaun Murphy hauled himself level at 8-8 with China's Ding Junhui.

Resuming 5-3 behind, breaks of 72 and 100 in the opening two frames from Murphy indicated his intentions.

Ding hit back to take the next two frames before the interval, however Murphy was playing well and scoring highly when chances came his way.

He added runs of 64 and 55 to win two of the next three frames and then a 43 made it all square, leaving everything to play for in the final session.

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