Stephen Hendry has bounced back from the worst performance of his career with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Mark Davis in the £600,000 LG Cup at Preston Guild Hall. However, despite making the last 16 of the competition, Hendry is refusing to get carried away. "It was obviously night and day compared with how I played at the British Open," admitted Hendry, who lost 5-1 to Welshman Anthony Davies in his opening match at the Stan James British Open in Newcastle a fortnight ago.
"The level of my performance was so much better and that applies to my attitude as well. I've been working hard with Terry Griffiths on a lot of things, on and off the table, and I'm sure it will pay off," he added. "But we are taking one step at a time. I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm going to win the tournament after one reasonable day. That would be stupid but that doesn't mean I'm not happy with the way I played," he explained.
Hendry needed a good start to this match to give himself a confidence boost and he got just that when he made a 117 break - his first century in competition since April and the 536th of his career. "I haven't had a century before that this season so it was good to get a monkey off my back," he said. Davis responded with a run of 81 to draw level at 1-1 but Hendry took control from the third frame and went in at the mid-session interval leading 3-1, stole the fifth frame with green to black clearance after needing a snooker, and finished in style by firing in a 99 break. He now faces either Dominic Dale, the 1997 Grand Prix champion, or fellow Scot Alan McManus.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
