Stephen Hendry beats Jimmy White on return to World Snooker Championships in qualifier
Stephen Hendry is through to the second qualifying round of the World Snooker Championships after beating old foe Jimmy White 6-3 on Monday night.
World Championship: Hendry shocked at Jimmy White draw
Stephen Hendry rolled back the years to record his first victory since coming out of retirement against Jimmy White in the first qualifying round for the World Snooker Championships. It was the biggest draw from the qualifying rounds when Hendry was pulled out of the hat to face White.
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The two snooker icons were at the peak of their powers in the 1990s, meeting on four occasions in the finals of the World Snooker Championships.
Hendry won all four meetings in that era against 'The Whirlwind' with the former winning 36 of their 60 previous matches.
But this was the first time the pair were lining up to face each other in a professional ranking event since the 2010 UK Championship.
Hendry called time on his career after the 2012 World Snooker Championships, entering the senior tour, but he announced his intentions to come out of retirement last year.
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The seven-time world champion accepted a two-year invitational tour card from Barry Hearn and made his return to the table at the Gibraltar Open last month.
All eyes were on the World Snooker Championships though where Hendry faced the unusual prospect of competing in the qualifying rounds as he enters without being seeded.
And fate drew him to face White, who was also playing for his future on the tour having struggled in recent years to find his best form.
It set up a fascinating contest on the opening day of qualifying and it proved to be just as tense in the opening frames with both players showing their nerves with multiple missed shots they would have comfortably nailed in their hey-day.
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White took an early lead before the two embarked on a snooker masterclass in the next two frames.
Hendry rolled back the years in the third frame though as he refused to give in to his opponent despite needing a snooker with just the pink and black on the table before taking his opportunity when White missed.
Opportunities missed seemed to be the staple for both players with neither played putting together big breaks.
But the third frame appeared to be the turning point in the match as Hendry went on to take the next three frames to open up a 5-1 lead, needing just one to advance to the second round.
White managed to regather himself to pull it back to 5-2 but Hendry had a few opportunities to wrap up the match in the eighth as The Whirlwind made some more uncharacteristic errors.
However, Hendry was now growing guilty of some sloppy attempts as White pulled to within two frames.
Hendry went off to recompose himself before the ninth frame though and came back more focussed to get the match done and dusted there and then though and wrapped it up with some fine play to eventually take the win.
The 52-year-old now faces Xu Si in the second qualifying round with 23-year-old Zhou Yuelong awaiting in the third.
