Hendry Finds His Old Spark

Stephen Hendry has not won a title for three years but went some way towards confounding those who have been writing him off as a major force by beating Ryan Day 5-4 to reach the last eight of the Welsh Open at Newport.

"It was a good win, especially from 4-3 down," said Hendry. "I missed a few, including one of the easiest reds you'll see. When you're not 100% confident that's the kind of thing that plagues you but confidence comes from winning."

Day, who has risen to 11th in the provisional rankings, is the highest-placed Welshman. He made the five highest breaks - 78, 84, 54, 77 and 49 - to lead 4-3 but was frozen out in the two remaining frames as Hendry reached his first ranking quarter-final of the season.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has not lost to Steve Davis for 10 years and never looked as if he would yesterday but from 2-0 made a few mistakes before completing a 5-3 victory.

After Davis missed a none-too-difficult red which would have assured him of going level at 2-2, O'Sullivan concentrated much better, clearing up with 68 for 3-1.

At 4-1 the end looked nigh. But Davis, who at 50 still tries as if his life depends on it in the arena, even if he can no longer face the practice regime which sustained him in his years of greatness, closed to 4-3 before O'Sullivan secured victory with his run of 69 in the eighth.

"It's all good in the hood," said O'Sullivan cheerily. "I'm enjoying my snooker again. It feels like a hobby again and that's helping me."

Allister Carter, who has risen to 15th in the rankings without appearing in a final, eliminated the defending champion, Neil Robertson, 5-3 after leading 4-0.