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Former Champ Hendry in control
Stephen Hendry today raced into a 6-2 lead over Ding Junhui in their eagerly anticipated second round clash in the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield.
Chasing an eighth world title, Hendry made a flying start with a break of 124 in the opening frame against Chinese superstar Ding, who spent most of the frame with his head down and eyes closed.
Ding took the next frame to level the scores but a break of 61 gave Hendry the third frame and the Scot then took a scrappy fourth as well to lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval.
Both players had come through final-frame deciders in the previous round, Hendry beating Northern Ireland's Mark Allen and Ding defeating Grand Prix winner Marco Fu.
It looked as though that had taken more of a toll on Ding than Hendry, who won the next three frames for good measure, culminating in a break of 84 to go 6-1 clear.
Ding was enduring a torrid time and had managed a high break of just 26 in those opening seven frames, and it was vital for the Sheffield-based 21-year-old to win the final frame of the session.
Thankfully for Ding and his millions of fans back in China he did, a break of 80 leaving him four frames adrift ahead of this evening's second session.
On the other table Peter Ebdon and Mark King were already into the second session of their match, Ebdon resuming 5-3 ahead.
The 2002 champion took the opening frame with a break of 73 but King snatched the next 67-66 after Ebdon had been first in with a run of 52.
Ebdon then took the next two frames to lead 8-4 before King, who knocked out last year's runner-up Mark Selby in the first round, took a scrappy 13th frame to reduce the deficit.
Defending champion John Higgins looked like opening up a sizeable advantage on Ryan Day when he won the first frame of the afternoon to extend his overnight lead to 6-3.
But Welshman Day, up to seventh in the provisional world rankings, won the next three frames to level at 6-6 and leave Higgins punching the table in frustration.
On the other table, Ali Carter led 2005 winner Shaun Murphy 2-1 in the early stages of their second round match, aided by a break of 97 in the opening frame and an outrageous fluke in the second, when he potted two reds at once while trying to play safe.
Higgins' mood was not improved by Day taking the 13th frame with a break of 51 to lead for the first time in the match.
But the Scot finally rediscovered his touch to take the next two frames with breaks of 99 and 54 to edge back into the lead.
However, Day was looking a far better player than the one who trailed
4-0 in yesterday's opening session and a run of 93 ensured the 28-year-old ended the day level at 8-8 ahead of tomorrow morning's decisive session.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
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