Stephen Hendry leaves the auditorium bemused by his loss of form
Stephen Hendry's golden return to the Crucible came to a juddering halt when he fell 7-1 behind to Stephen Maguire on Tuesday.
The seven-time world champion had defeated Stuart Bingham and defending champion John Higgins to book his place in the last eight.But he made an appalling start to his match against another fellow Scot in Maguire, missing the pink so badly in the third frame it was cringeworthy.Aside from a break of 65 which gave him the seventh frame, the 43-year-old struggled badly throughout the afternoon session, and he will need three in the evening to avoid a two-session defeat.Maguire did not have to find peak form, and initially simply picked at the scraps Hendry was repeatedly leaving for him.The 31-year-old had a handy break of 41 in the second frame and a slick 68 to move 4-0 in front.The key early moment in the match came at the business end of frame three, when Hendry looked for all the world like he would clear the table.On a break that had taken him to 52-52, he left himself the straightforward pink. It was slightly off straight but certainly not difficult, and yet Hendry missed it by inches, with Maguire again feasting on the leftovers.Hendry immediately left the arena with a baffled face, but after composing himself could only watch Maguire make a frame-winning run to move further ahead.Maguire had a 117 break to lead 5-0, a 60 to make it six in a row, and after Hendry finally got on the board a rapid 95 inflicted the final blow of the session.On the other table, Ryan Day made two centuries as he established a 5-3 lead over his fellow Welsh player and good friend Matthew Stevens.The 32-year-old from Pontycymer near Bridgend has fallen from sixth to 35th in the world rankings after a major loss of form.He outplayed world number 14 Stevens though, having breaks of 100 and 110 in the second and third frames after watching an 86 from his opponent in the opener.Stevens brought the best out of Day, and further scoring runs of 80 and 57 helped him pull two frames clear by the end of the session.Like Hendry and Maguire, they return to action tonight.Read more https://www1.skysports.com/snooker/news/12243/7720983/