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IT'S PURE TORTURE FOR HUMBLED HENDRY

DOWN IN THE MOUTH: Stephen Hendry's confidence has been affected by his drought

Tuesday May 1,2007

By Hector Nunns

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STEPHEN Hendry admits he faces a huge battle to restore his shattered confidence after crashing out of the 888.com World Championship at the Crucible yesterday.

The seven-time champion has not won any title for more than three years and Ali Carter ruthlessly exploited his frailties by clinching a quarter-final place with a 13-6 victory.

Carter’s own greatest personal triumph has been in combating Crohn’s disease, a stomach condition which threatened to destroy a promising career four years ago.

But with that now under control and in remission, 27-year-old Carter, a trainee pilot, has for the first time made it into the last eight at Sheffield.

And though Hendry, 38, was desolate about his own decline he promptly tipped his impressive conqueror to go all the way.

He said: “It was torture out there and the story of my season. For some reason I can’t reproduce my practice form in a match.

It was torture out there

Hendry

“It’s not the new cue I’ve been using here, if you’d watched me you would know I’ve played like that with other cues. It is a psychological thing and confidence has a big part to play. I haven’t won a tournament in three years.

“But Ali was fantastic and I said if he keeps playing like that he has got a great chance, I don’t see anyone setting the place on fire.”

Carter, who has reached two ranking semi-finals, has a fine head-to-head record against Hendry, which made this result less of a shock. But he was quick to keep some perspective, with the death of Paul Hunter last year having affected him deeply, given his own health problems.

He said: “My Crohn’s disease is not completely gone, but it has been in remission for a couple of years. I have regular blood tests and there is no sign of it there.

“I was probably more ill even than I realised at the time. I look at what happened to Paul Hunter, and it could easily have been me or any one of us.”

John Higgins took just 17 minutes to get the single frame he needed to see off Irishman Fergal O’Brien 13-4. Higgins, 31, has had a poor season and said: “It was good to play like that and feel like that again.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan survived a battle royal against Neil Robertson to keep his dream of a third world title alive.

The Rocket, who now faces Higgins for a place in the last four, had trailed 10-9, but reeled off the next four frames to end the challenge of the Australian.

Mark Selby produced a record-equalling display to knock out Peter Ebdon.

The 23-year-old reached his first Crucible quarter-final with a 13-8 victory that included three consecutive century breaks.

The feat has only been matched by Higgins and O’Sullivan – and 2002 champion Ebdon never fully recovered.

And after removing Ebdon, also last year’s beaten finalist, Selby now faces a battle with Carter for a place in the semi-finals, starting this afternoon.