Hendry Blows Lead to End Level With O'sullivan

Stephen Hendry, a contender for his eighth world title nine years after his seventh, started with a total clearance of 140 and led 4-1 but Ronnie O'Sullivan will today start the second of the four sessions that comprise their best-of-33-frames semi-final of the world championship level at 4-4.

Hendry, now 39, has not won a title for 38 months and it was his safety game rather than his long potting, which is not as formidable as it used to be, that created most of his chances to exploit his undimmed skill around the black spot. O'Sullivan started sluggishly but scrambled the fourth frame and opened the scoring with 64 in the fifth before losing position. Hendry's reply stalled on 41 on a straight yellow with the remaining colors on their spots but a couple of random runs of the ball went his way as he improved to 4-1.

The balance shifted when Hendry, with a 32-6 lead in the sixth, bizarrely snookered himself, gave 20 away in fruitless escapes and eventually let O'Sullivan in for 102. O'Sullivan also kept control of the remaining two frames to achieve overnight parity at 4-4.

Joe Perry, whose record features only one final and two semi-finals, chiseled out a two-frame advantage over Ali Carter, who had ousted two former champions, Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon, in the previous rounds, after the opening session of their semi-final.

The Cambridgeshire player took advantage of a below-par Carter, who would have been relatively happy to be trailing only 5-3. Perry had been in action until 11.30pm on Wednesday before closing out a 13-12 win over Stephen Maguire, but the 33-year-old world No18 showed no visible effects of his marathon match.