Snooker Live - O'sullivan 0-3 Hendry

3.20 PM: Yup, thought so. After a few exchanges Hendry polishes off the colors and takes the frame. Hendry 3-0 O'Sullivan

3.15 PM: "Totally agree with your comments on TV snooker," writes Matt L. "I am watching it on Russian Eurosport, drinking beer, and listening to the military brass band playing in the park next door. Russian commentary certainly adds an extra dimension. I have just learnt that the Russian for 'frame ball' is 'frame ball'." Yup, you can't beat a nice bit of Eurosport snooker. I once went on a travel jolly to Cologne and spent most of it sat in a bath towel watching German coverage of the UK championship. Who the eff watches snooker in Germany, I don't know, but old Lukas Bartos knew his snooker. There was also an unfortunate episode where I ordered the adult channels by accident which cost me 15 euros. Meanwhile, Ronnie's error lets Hendry take a 29-69 lead. By the time Ronnie's back on the table he needs two four point snookers to win, but insists on carrying on. Not sure why. If anyone is equipped for a longer game out of the two, it's Hendry.

3.08 PM: First error from Hendry he's going along nicely and the reds are open, but misses and easy black and Ronnie is on the table with a good chance of clearing, this could be a good chance for Ronnie to get a bit of confidence and rhythm back. 14-9 at the moment.

3.03 PM: Ronnie thunks a blue into the middle – that's about as sexual as snooker gets – but there's too much side spin on the ball and he can't get an angle on the next red. He's looked nervous today, he's played some good safeties, but just hasn't looked comfortable with his potting. The first, sulphuric whiff of a funk is in the air.

2.55 PM: ...which he does. Hendry 2-0 O'Sullivan.

2.55 PM: "I double-dog-dare you to try an SBS – shot-by-shot – accounting of a frame of your choice in today's match," says Darren Kilfara. "How many shots do you think you could cover in a row without losing the will to live?" Easy, I'll do it now: pot the reds then, skrew back, for the yellow, safety, green, foul, brown, gulp of water, frown, blue, unlucky kiss, pink and black. And Ronnie manager to pit a long red! You wouldn't have put much money on him taking the frame., but the shot seems to spur him on until Ronnie - as he will - pots the brown with his left-hand and leaves himself way too close to the blue. Hendry duly sinks it and – at 41-59 – Ronnie needs snookers to take the frame and Hendry should win it...

2.42 PM: Hendry takes 1minute 33 seconds to come up with a way of getting out of a fiendish trap Ronnie has set him. It's not long enough though and he leaves a red into the middle pocket for Ronnie, who trails 47-0 in the frame. It looks like a fairly easy route to taking the frame, but the break ends with Ronnie putting the white in: 22-51.

2.40 PM: "What is the magical draw behind snooker," demands Ryan Spencer. "As a non-Brit, I just don't get it. My other half, on the other hand, hates other sport, but then along comes the snooker at the Crucible – and for 17 days of the year I can't get her away from the TV." It's the pace of the game, Ryan, you can easily justify sitting on your arse all day because that how long a game lasts. With football or rugby you've got another 22 hours to fill once you've finished. Actually going to watch snooker, by the way, is a pale comparison of televised snooker. You can't talk, you have to concentrate rather than getting up every few minutes to make a sandwich and there's nobody to tell you when a shot's any good or not – in other words in encourages independent thought. O'Sullivan safety game is improving, but Hendry has been sneaking in for a few breaks and is 47-0 up.

2.30 PM: "Sorry to nitpick," writes Jeremy Campbell, picking some nits out of my lustrous mane and popping a few in his mouth, "I would dispute the claim that Ronnie offended 'the entire population of China'. Chinese has many different dialects and there is a region in China where Ronnie O'Sullivan's suggestive comments translate thus: 'A great snooker player must be like reeds in the wind - strong yet flexible. Liang Wenbo has such qualities and is destined to be great.' It could be argued that Ronnie's use of hand gestures only illustrated his point." Ah, come on now, Jeremy we all now Ronnie was talking about his c… Oh! Ronnie stuffs up another safety and lets Hendry in. He can't capitalize, and misses an easy-ish red. 16-0 so far in this frame. Ronnie, by the way, has attempted one serious pot - a long red - this afternoon and he just missed.

2.23 PM: Here's Nick Byrne's prediction: "Ronnie to walk it and then surprise us all with his liberal leanings by insisting his Chinese debacle not only doubled up as a fierce pro-Tibetan protest but also a precursor to his no doubt impending 'life blow-out' and future life as a reclusive monk." A monk that's spent a lot of time in porn shops, but a monk nonetheless, Nick. Hendry takes the first with a break of 141. Better get that habit on, Ronnie. Hendry 1-0 O'Sullivan.

2.20 PM: Big news! My colleague Paolo Bandini has met the big fat one – Chris, apparently – in a pub. He bought Bandini and chums drinks too. Then again, he is on – barring a particularly good performance from a pub quiz team from Woking – on £250 a day. Hendry is rattling through the frame - he's 76-0 up.

2.15 PM: Who's the best player to ever have played the game? Asks Dennis Taylor. He reckons it's Hendry. I'd say O'Sullivan is the best – most talented - but Hendry is the greatest – the most bloody-minded. The first frame is off to a slow start. Hendry is in after Ronnie effs up a safety, just as well – Eggheads is on in just 3 hours and 48 minutes (the big fat one with white hair, by the way, is the greatest Eggheads champion ever).

Chances of massive Ronnie blow-up: 7/10. Ronnie's had a few digs at Hendry in the past, including an argument before the semis in 2002 so if Ronnie gets distracted by a few bad shots, slow play by Hendry, the howling futility of life or the international credit crisis, we could have a fight on our hands. As in a fistfight not some metaphorical potting fight.

The form: It's been [correspondent consults complex notes] nine years since Stephen Hendry won the title at the [correspondent consults complex notes] Crucible and he didn't really look like ending that run coming into the championship and it's been [correspondent consults colleagues notes] 38 months since he won a title of any sort. Ronnie, on the other hand, has been his usual brilliant self, insulting the entire population of China, not looking particularly bothered about anything and hitting 147. His [correspondent plagiarizes Hazel Irvine] long potting was a bit suspect last round though, so it should be a fascinating session of [correspondent consults passerby] snooker.

Preamble: Forget the final, this is the big one. An aging champion against a kind-of-aging genius for the right to beat Allister Carter or Joe Perry. I'm still in a bit of a huff with Perry, to be honest with you. A contest between Ronnie and Stephen Maguire trying to outsulk each other in the final would have been quite a treat.